Gorillaz Of The Hidden Village
by freedragon
Summary: Crazy idea thats being bugging my mind. Here it is: Murdoc is being hunted due to his shady deals, so using some of his voodoo-hoodoo he transports Gorillaz to the world of Naruto, and things get pretty interesting pretty quick.Now let the insanity begin.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello to you all! Dragon, reporting. Well, Today I decided to take on one of the most difficult projects yet! Writing a crossover between Naruto and Gorillaz! *dramatic Music* So, even though this could end in an epic failure (and likely it will), I am going to give this a shot. Please try not to murder me in the comments TOO much. Constructive criticism is always welcome though!**

**Now, I am POSSITIVE that I am going mad (who else would do a Gorillaz crossover with Naruto? Seriously, it is MADNESS!), so before I start talking to inanimate objects and they start answering me, let us begin this story!**

**P.S: I don't own Naruto or Gorillaz, or any song which I may use in the future in this Fan fiction.**

Chapter 1: Portals and Music

KONG Studios, February 7, 2006

The black clouds engulfed the sky above the massive grounds of the KONG Studios Mansion, pelting the whole countryside with a barrage of raindrops and the occasional lightning streaking through the sky. It was a horrible day, so much so that even the zombies and ghouls that usually roamed the vast grounds of KONG were opting for a lazy day in their graves and crypts rather than haunting the grounds.

But the storm was of no concern for two the four members of the world famous band 'Gorillaz' that resided in the Mansion of KONG Studios. Down in the basement of the massive fifty room (or more; truth be told, the members weren't sure how many rooms the place had, even after years of living in the mansion they were still finding secret passages and hidden rooms that were built and left behind by the previous paranoid and crazy owners of the mansion) mansion, a twenty four year old blue-haired man that measured six feet and two inches in height, and had two eyes that were wholly black, as if his eyes had been replaced with two spheres containing black holes, and a Japanese sixteen year old, purple-haired girl, that measured maybe four feet with eleven inches in height, and that had the irises of her eyes as green as emerald, sat in front of a massive sixty-nine inch HD plasma screen, completely engrossed in their current video game.

They had been at it for nearly two hours straight now, and this was the tiebreaker. Whoever won this round would take the glory of the greatest 'Monster Madness' champion in the history of ever! And neither of them was going to make it easy for the other to get that title.

Finally, with lighting quick fingers, the blue hair man made a dragon-man in the screen spew a ball of fire that engulfed a werewolf woman along with half of the screen, causing him to be declared the winner of the game.

"YES!" The man screamed in excitement as he leaped high into the air.

"Aw, no fair 2D!" The girl said with a pout, "Didn't anyone ever tell you to go easy on girls?"

2D stopped jumping up and down only to turn to the girl with a wide grin on his face, revealing two missing top front teeth. It was quite remarkable really, or at least it was from the girl's point of view, that despite all the oddities of her friend he managed to look so good. He was lean but not scrawny, his muscles were well defined, plus he had high cheekbones, and a voice that could melt a million hearts of ice. And though he wasn't the brightest light bulb in the Christmas tree, he was so kind it was almost a fault, and he somehow he made those deep black eyes work for him. Hell, if she was a few years older she might have even tried to go out with him

"Ha! As if I could afford that with you, Noodle!" 2D's voice said loud enough to bring her back from her musings. "I know from experience that if I don't take you seriously from the start, I am going to get my butt handed to me in a silver platter. Besides, you swept the floor with me in 'Street Brawler May Die 4' before this, so I couldn't let our little Asian Axe Princes defeat me again, eh?" 2D said, finishing off with a wink one would expect to receive from a conspirator.

Noodle giggled at her friend's antics before offering him a wide smile.

"Ok, Ok. Fair enough, 2D."

"So whot do you want to do now Noods?"

Noodle crossed her arms over her still developing chest and sat cross-legged on the floor as she thought about the question. They couldn't go zombie hunting in this storm, or play outside, they had also already practiced some of their songs for a few hours, and they had just spent at least a couple of hours in video games…what else could they do?

"Oh I know!" She suddenly said, clapping her hands once as she came up with an idea. "Lets go look for Murdoc and Russel, last I saw them they were in the second floor working on one of Murdoc's crazy ideas. Maybe we can even help!"

2D frowned slightly, thinking about her idea. He had no problem with Russel, the big twenty nine year old Afro-American bald man with milky white eyes. He was an excellent drummer, recognized as one of the best in the world actually. Russel was quite knowledgeable in many subjects besides Music, and the father figure of Noodle, and a decent person over all. But 2D did have a problem with Murdoc.

The thirty six year old man known as Murdoc was a whole different story from Russel, he was a green-skinned, womanizing, alcoholic, chain-smoking, and sadistic man that took pleasure in torturing people, particularly 2D since he was the easiest to get his hands on to torture, and at the same height of Russel of five foot nine inches, he wasn't exactly a pushover. It didn't help that he had mismatched eyes, one of which had a brown iris and the other which had a red one, giving him a psychotic look when he smirked knowingly.

Then again, as long as he was with Noodle he should be fine. To Murdoc, Noodle was the illegitimate daughter he never had, and as such he tended to cut back on the cursing and indecent comments when she was around, plus he tried to not hurt 2D _too _much, since he was aware that they had some kind of Zen-bond thing going, a kind of spiritual connection between the two of them, and she would stand up in his defence any day, even if she was facing a horde of zombies.

After thinking about it for a couple of more seconds, 2D finally responded to Noodle.

"Yeah, sure lets do that." He smiled.

Both of them stood up and grabbed their instruments, 2D took his megaphone, microphone, and his keyboards and stuffed them in a backpack while Noodle grabbed her electric guitar and set it in its bag gently and threw it over her shoulder.

"Hey… Noods?" 2D asked.

"Yeah?"

"Race cha!"

As soon as those words were spoken, the blue-haired singer and the green-eyed guitarist bolted down the hall fast enough to make Olympic athletes jealous.

Lighting Country, 130 miles from the nearest major city.

Naruto awoke as the first beams of sunlight penetrated the window of the hotel and landed upon his face. Lazily he opened his eyes as he turned over to face his bedside clock. It read 6:23 AM.

Naruto groaned to himself when he saw the clock. It was so… _Early._ But he had to get up and go training with that white-haired perverted teacher of his. He had already been traveling with Jiraya for about half a year, and he was quickly improving, despite all the bad habits his current teacher and mentor had that got in the way. Like yesterday, when he was trying to sneak into the female public bath houses to peek at the girls. _One day,_ Naruto thought amusedly, _That pervy sage is going to die at the hands of a mob of pissed off women._

The thought brought a smile to his face. Yeah, that sounded like it could happen any day. But hopefully he wouldn't die before his training was done or he might just have to kill him. He had to get strong to beat Sasuke. Last time they fought their strength had been perfectly matched, but Sasuke luckily escaped being knocked out with him due to his head protector, which deflected just enough of the force of Naruto's blow so that he wouldn't be K.O'ed with him.

Naruto growled at the memory. He had to get strong enough so that luck and chance would be nearly meaningless in a fight. He had to become strong enough to overpower luck, chance, and fate along with whatever new powers Sasuke might gain. He wasn't going to fail again. He would bring Sasuke back to the village even if he had to break his arms and legs. After all, he had two very powerful reasons to do so, the first was that he couldn't let Sasuke screw up his life more than he already had, friends don't let friends fuck themselves up like that, and the second reason was that he had made a promise with a certain pink haired female ninja to bring Sasuke back to the village no matter what, and he never went back on his word. _Ever._

With new found resolve, Naruto stood up and headed towards the washroom. He looked at himself in the mirror, and a face that had determined blue eyes and messy yellow hair stared back at him.

"No slacking of today mister." He told his reflection seriously, "Jiraiya said he found something interesting with the very fabrics of the world and he was going to show you it. If you are lucky, you might, just might, be able to use it to harness some kind of power to fight that Teme (Bastard) called Sasuke."

And with that, he nodded to himself and turned to take a shower and get dressed. He took his sweet time in the shower, enjoying the warm water of the shower washing over his body. They had been on the road for months now, and even a shinobi (ninja) enjoys taking a decent shower once in a while, especially after weeks, if not months, with out warm water and soap.

After a nice twenty minutes of relaxing warm water running down his body, he finally turned off the water flow to the shower and dried himself with a satisfied sigh. Man, did that ever feel good!

Unfortunately that trail of thought was cut short when he looked at wall cock. 6:45 AM.

His eyes widened instantly. _Oh, SHIT!_ And with the speed of the shinobi (ninja) he was, he darted through the hotel room and got dressed in a matter of seconds, then bolted towards the window by his, grabbing an apple from a fruit bowl that sat on a small table on the way, and jumped out the window.

He landed on the roof of a house that was next to the hotel, and began leaping through the roofs of the small village until he reached the edge of the forest, at which point he climbed the branches of the nearest tree he could find before he began leaping through the branches of the large trees of the forest.

_I hope that that pervy toad sage found something interesting._ Naruto thought absentmindedly as he leapt acrobatically from tree branch to tree branch.

Boy, was he in for a surprise.

KONG, second floor.

"WHAT THE BLEEDING HELL?" Murdoc screamed out in frustration as his seventh attempt in the last week at the alchemic seal failed. The green man was now beyond frustrated. He was an expert in magics! He had traveled to hell and back, literally, and he had even summoned creatures that were thought fantasy from other realms! So why couldn't he make this damn seal work? It was driving him up the wall not knowing.

He began to pace the wide room, muttering to himself in an endless stream of words laced with curses every so often. A milky white set of pupil-less eyes belonging to a certain Afro-American drummer watched him walk back and forth across the wide room. Russel didn't really care much for the seal. He wasn't even sure why he had come in the first place, since he knew little about magic, not much more than the basics actually, but he had been too intrigued to find out what could have caused Murdoc, who had an ego that was about the size of a whale, to stoop to asking for anyone's help, and as result had agreed to join Murdoc in his little experiment.

Murdoc had explained him the basics of the multi-layered seal. Apparently, it was a seal of seven layers, whose three functions were, in simple terms the following. The first function was to open a portal to an other world, the second to increase the affinities of whoever stood in the seal, and thirdly the ability to understand and physically act like the residents of the world to help reduce the suspicion of its inhabitants.

"You, Mudz!" Russel called to Murdoc from his seat, "Remind me again why you want to go to an other world, and why do you need me here."

Murdoc stopped pacing and turned to look at Russel, his face showing that he was clearly annoyed at the interruption, but he answered Russel anyways, lest he lost his helper to the temptation of sleep.

"Because I want to explore new aspects and ideas of music, you lard ass! Think about it! If we can gather ideas of music about other worlds and bring them to this world and rock it down to the very core! Think of all the fame! The glory! And especially all the women!" Murdoc grinned impishly at the last part of his statement. He loved women, Oh yes he did.

"Ah-ha…" Russel said, "Are you sure it has nothing to do with the fact that there are a bunch of cracker ass mercenaries and gangsters and even demons after your head because of all your God-damned shady deals?"

Murdoc stiffened at the mention of the mercenaries, gangsters, and demons. He had quite the score of people that would like to see him dead, and even a demon that would like to have his soul. But he'd be damned if he was going to make it easy for them to get anything from him! He was Murdoc Niccals! He was a master musician and swindler, and lightning strike him if he was paying up, or die, or going to hell. He was going to go to this other world and lay low for a couple of years, maybe even find a way to get that damn demon of his back permanently, and if he could do it while getting himself something that could increase his already large fame and income, then he would gladly do it.

"Maybe…" Murdoc allowed in a sly tone that made Russel frown. He knew that tone, and it usually meant trouble.

"Anyways," Murdoc continued, "I need you here because you are the only person that I know that can read multiple ancient languages and archaic symbols, so as far as I know you are the only one that can help me figure out what's wrong with this seal. After you do that and I fix it, we can call the blue-haired dullard and Noodle so we can go."

"I see…" Russel said thoughtfully. That made sense. "So, where is this thing you need me to read then?"

"Right there, Russ. It's that big opened leather bound book on the table besides you." Murdoc said as he pointed to an old and musty leather bound book with yellowing pages. The thing was easily two feet long, a foot and a half wide, and about a foot thick. It was massive. That thing had to weight at least thirty or forty pounds.

Russel pulled his chair closer towards the table were the open book now sat. He took a moment to examine the book, noting the age of the leather and the detail of the decorative symbols at the edges of the old yellow pages, leaving no doubt to him that this book was many times older than he was. Marking the page it had been left open at, he began flipping through the pages of the book. And what he found quickly boggled his mind.

The book was written in different languages! There was Arabic, Greek, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, English, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Catalan, Mayan, and so on, and the closer you got to the cover of the book, the older the languages became. There were different handwritings too, proving that it all had been written by hand by a multitude of people. It was amazing. It was almost as if the book had been handed down from the oldest days of man kind to different people, each of whom had written a piece of knowledge into this book.

Russel finally reached the front cover of the book, it read 'Codex Magika'. The Codex of Magic.

"Where did you get this Mudz?" Russel asked in awe.

"Hmm? Oh, the book?" Murdoc said as he realised he was being talked to again, "I got it from some old guy in the Amazon Jungle in the territory of Colombia, after a party."

"Let me guess," Russel said, already suspecting what had occurred, "You got drunk, stole a small plane, decided to take it for a test run, crash landed it into the jungle, and some how survived and found the guy which you convinced to sell you the book."

Murdoc Froze instantly and turned to face Russel.

"How did you know?"

"I didn't." Russel smiled, "You just told me. "

Suddenly Murdoc realised what Russel had done. He had said something he suspected only to get a reaction out of him, which might lead him to the story. And all Murdoc could do was grumble about it. He hated being tricked.

"Yeah, well, you missed the part were he used his voodoo-hoodoo magic thingy to fix the plane to get me out of the jungle! Ha! Or the fact that I stole a helicopter, not a plane! Double ha!" Murdoc said triumphantly.

"Thanks for the info Mudz." Russel said, with a small smile gracing his lips, which further ticked off Murdoc. Russel was one of the few people that could out smart him from time to time, and getting outsmarted irked him.

Still, he at least Russel was someone with whom he could discuss more complicated things and subjects with, like robotics, which was a nice change from the simple conversations he had with 2D. Talking with 2D was like talking to a sixteen year old with a bad problem of ADD or ADHD. When the guy focused, like when he sang, it was truly amazing, enthralling even to a degree that was hardly human some would say. But besides those times, he got easily distracted with nearly anything, had problems understanding more intellectual conversations, and he didn't plan things out much, or think about things much for that matter.

"Whatever, lard ass!" Murdoc said grudgingly, "Just help me find what's wrong here. I taught you all the basics about seals and alchemic circles for a reason, you know?"

"Yeah, Yeah. Just let me read the frigging book man." Russel said dismissively as he began to read the book with interest. As much as he hated to admit that Murdoc's plan had some merit, and even if he was completely doing this seal to escape Lord-Knows-What, he couldn't help being a bit curious about what the music of other worlds sounded like.

After thirty minutes of heavy reading and examining of the book, Russel moved to examine the gigantic seal Murdoc had drawn on the floor out of white chalk and some semi-precious stones. It took him a good thirty minutes to identify the error of the seal due to the fact that it was maybe thirty feet wide with about twenty-three hundred characters and twenty-one stones.

"Ah-ha!" Russel screamed triumphantly as he finally found the error of the seal, "Here is the problem Mudz! You drew this symbol backwards and you need a power source in the center of the seal."

Right, but wha-AAAHH!"

Murdoc suddenly interrupted himself as the door of the room burst open, and a blur of blue and purple launched themselves into the room. At first Murdoc thought it was one of those assassins sent to get him, but soon he was relieved to find that it was just 2D and Noodle that had burst through the door, nearly knocking it off its hinges.

"Ha! I win!" 2D said triumphantly at the short girl.

"No way! I was here first!" Noodle replied.

"Fine, call it a draw then?" 2D asked.

"Meh, sure, that works." Noodle said with a shrug and a smile so white 2D had to wonder if she washed her teeth with bleach.

"AHEM!" Murdoc interrupted with irritation, "If you haven't noticed, we are kinda BUSY here you dolts! So sit down there and be quiet! As soon as this is done, we are all going for a little trip… Now, what were you saying Russ?"

"Erm, yeah…The book mentions a secondary power source that acts as a trigger to the seal. With out it there is no way you are getting this thing to work. The book calls it _chakra_."

"Chakra? What the bleeding hell is _chakra_?" Murdoc growled in frustration. He needed to know what this was and how to find and soon, if he ever wanted to get away from those who were tracking him. He already knew that there was a plot to assault KONG to get him and all the other band members too, if necessary. Time was running out.

"How am I supposed to know?" Russel said with a shrug, "You are the master of all that Voodoo-Hoodoo-Cuckoo crap, shouldn't you know?"

"That book is much older than the British Empire you lard ass!" Murdoc countered, "I can't know _everything_ that is written in that bloody book!"

"Erm… Chakra? I know whot that is." 2D said uncertain if he should interrupt their argument or not. Naturally, this caused Murdoc and Russel to turn to look at him as if he had grown a new head. Stuart Pot, better known as 2D, knew something that they did not know about, other than something about music. That was a first.

"…Er.. what?" 2D questioned, "Did I say something wrong?"

"I think that they are just in shock 2D." Noodle answered, "It's a first that you know something like this before they do."

"Oh." That was the brilliant response that 2D came up with.

"Well, out with it two dents," Murdoc commanded, "What's this chakra thingy? And how do you know?"

"Oh, well, I know 'cause I learned it in one of my trips to Tibet, when I was still Buddhist, I found a village of monks who in their past lives were Ninjas." 2D said dismissively, "But anyways, Chakra is the mix of your physical and spiritual and mental energy."

"Hmmm…. Say, face-ache? Can you use this chakra thingy?"

"Hmm? Well, yeah. I was _living _with these people for a few months and they taught me in exchange for some singing."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just stand in the center of the damn seal, right there!"

"Huh? Well, um… sure. Why?"

"We need you to channel some of that Chakra into the seal to kick start it." Russel supplied.

"Is this so we can go on that trip you and Murdoc were talking about?" Noodle asked curiously.

"That's right squirt." Murdoc answered, "And if all goes well, we'll be there real soon. Now, everybody git in the center around 2D. Russ, bring the book too."

Everybody stepped into the circle, with 2D kneeling down with his palms pressed to the seal at the heart of it. 2D really didn't know what to expect, but if Russel was going along with it, then it couldn't be all that bad…right?

"Ready dullard?" Murdoc asked as an impish grin spread across his face as he started pouring a golden-black elixir in a circle around them, "When I say 'now', you push some of that chakra into the seal, got it?"

Receiving a nod from the singer, Murdoc grunted in satisfaction before he finished pouring the elixir. With a swift flick of his wrist, he threw the vase that had contained the elixir against the wall behind him, shattering it into a thousand pieces. As soon as he heard the smashing noise come from the wall, he jumped into the ring he had created on top of the seal with the elixir and shouted out the signal.

"NOW!"

And in a flash of golden light, they were gone from the face of their world.

"HEYA PERVEY SAGE!" Naruto screamed as he launched himself in towards Jiraiya who was apparently waiting for him in a clearing in the forest, maybe standing twenty meters from the edge of the forest. It was a decently wide clearing, maybe a hundred-and-sixty or a hundred-and -seventy meters in diameter, and the soft hip-high grass that covered said clearing was a deep healthy green color.

"Naruto! Glad you could make it," Jiraiya said easily, "Now come over here, we got work to do."

Naruto walked towards Jiraiya curiously, closing whatever distance was left between the two of them, trying to figure out what the Toad Sage had in mind. But he didn't have much time to do so, as the Toad Sage quickly pulled him down with himself into a crouching position, hiding then both amongst the long grasses of the clearing, and made a gesture with his hand that meant that Naruto should not make any noise.

Puzzled, but willing to co-operate with the perverted Toad Sage, Naruto kept silent and his ears open, but for the next few seconds, nothing happened.

"Hey, pervy Sage," Naruto whispered at Jiraiya, "What's going on here?"

"Hush boy!" Jiraiya responded in hushed tones to Naruto, "Don't you feel that?"

"Feel wha…!" Naruto began to ask agitatedly, but suddenly his words began to fade as he realized what the Toad Sage meant.

The air seemed to be still, and the temperature of the small clearing seemed increase by a couple of degrees. It was a somewhat eerie feeling that made the back of his neck prickle a bit as the hairs of the back of his head stood on end. It was not a particularly evil nor powerful feeling what he felt, but it was unnatural; alien to this world even. And the feeling was slowly increasing in potency, as if someone was slowly opening the flow of water of a dam.

"What is _that_?" Naruto asked in his mentor still in a hushed voice. The odd feeling was putting him a bit on edge.

"That, Naruto," Said the Sanin known as Jiraiya, "Is what found out, and what I called you over to help me investigate. It's the seventh time this week that this has happened, and it seems to have to do with the very fabrics of the world for what I can tell. But as for what it is I have no idea. However, if we are lucky, today we will find out."

"What makes you say that?"

"The feeling, that odd sensation, it's getting stronger. It has always stopped at this point, but this time…. Its not; and something tells me that we'll soon see something interesting."

Those words only served to put Naruto more on edge, ad cause him to strain his senses for any other anomalies. Truth be told, Naruto wasn't sure that he could describe what he was feeling. It wasn't easily defined with words anyways. But if he had to describe it… It was like the moment in which you were waiting for an examination from a great master of some craft that you have always looked up to. What you would feel would be hope and fear bubble up within you as you tried to focus on the task at hand, and during those moments in which the world is dead to you, except for the master you idolize and the task at hand, you feel a sort of numbness take you while you force your senses to the limit.

That was more or less what Naruto Uzumaki felt for the next three minutes, as the odd alien sensation increased gradually, and then halted to a stop. Naruto counted the seconds during which nothing happened, as time seemed to stand still.

One second…Two seconds… Three sec-

_FWOOOOSH!_

In a massive display of blinding white light and luminescent fog, a gust of air swept the clearing with unexpected force, nearly throwing back Naruto against a tree. Not that he could have seen the tree, as his eyes were half blinded by the light and he remained half blind for a few moments before he could finally start making out what was in front of him.

Naruto blinked a couple of times, staring at the point of the clearing which was the source of the explosion of air and light. But what greeted him was an odd sight.

In the center of the clearing a large cloud of white fog rose up from the ground, thin lines of blue and purple lightning could be seen running within the folds that were created from the fog by the wind. The fog was easily fifteen feet in diameter and climbed in a column of nearly twenty feet high, and slowly climbing higher. Then the fog seemed to start spinning, creating what appeared to be an upside down tornado within which blue and purple lightning of many shades danced a terrible and enthralling dance.

And then, all at once, the mist exploded outwards, expanding, and but to the surprise of Naruto and the Toad Sage, there was no sound. The mist had just flown away from the center of the clearing at speeds that could only be described as monstrous, and shocking. Most importantly, the mist seemed to condense around the two ninja, blinding them and engulfing them in its own white folds, as the lightning licked their skin and clothes with out harming them.

Naturally, both Naruto and Jiraiya instantly started to try to lash out against the mist with both kicks and punches, and they even attempted to run and use their jutsu (ninja especial techniques that relay on chakra) to rid themselves of the fog, but to their surprise, they could not move, not an inch in any way, shape, or form, save for a slight leeway to their chest, that allowed them to breath. And that worried them.

One of the most basic rules of being a ninja is avoid being grounded on the spot for long, unless it had a purpose, such as luring an enemy into a trap. It was a very simple and very natural rule, because if you are stop moving then you are sitting duck. It is very simple for any foe to plot a trap, throw a knife, cast a genjutsu (allusion), or otherwise injure you, if you are not moving.

Simply put, Naruto and Jiraya were in great danger if this was an attack of some sort. Their enemy could easily just walk up to them and slash their throats and they wouldn't be able to do as much as even lift a finger to oppose them. They would be completely at their mercy.

As they this train of thought crossed their minds, the lightning still kept running over their bodies, as if examining their prisoners with great detail. It was odd, to say the least. The two ninja could feel the lightning running over their bodies, checking every muscle and ligament, and examining every tendon and bone, and in a matter of minutes, every tissue in their body had been checked… Except one. The brain.

At that point, two sets of lightning circled the head of each ninja, and they had the very uncomfortable feeling of having a something like a ghost of a breeze brush against their mind. Being ninja, both had natural mental defences that were stronger than the average person's, however, they felt zero strain on their mental barriers, which told them two things. First, whatever that lightning had done, it had had no intention of intruding deeply into their mind, secondly, it meant that whatever it was that lighting wanted was very superficial, very common knowledge.

Finally, after the lightning had scanned them completely, the lightning condensed into electrical spheres, and shot back towards the center of the clearing with the remains of the fog that had enveloped both ninja.

Instantly they felt their mobility return to them, but they made no move, too shocked and intrigued by the odd event unfolding in front of them to care to move.

They watched as the spheres of purple and blue that had shot from each ninja blended together into two spheres, one blue and one purple, while the fog that had once enveloped them retreated back to the center of the clearing, were most of the fog still spiralled lazily in a cone-like shape.

The spheres of lightning seemed to pulse twice, sending thin bolts of energy to each other, before they sped back towards the spiralling fog, plunging deep into its depths. And all at once the spiral began to speed up in a wild frenzy of lightning, explosions of blue and purple lighting up the tornado of fog from within.

The tornado roared with its inner lightning and rushing winds, and as the explosions of color continued, shadows quickly started to appear. A giant shadow of a hand seemed to materialise for a brief flash of purple, only to be replaced a moment later by a the shadow what seemed like monstrously large head imprinted in the fogs blue flash, and with a final roar of lightning, both a bullet of each lightning collided with the other, and the spiralling storm of fog and lightning ceased to spin and the lightning died away.

For ten heartbeats nothing could be heard, and nothing but the dissipating fog could be seen. But then their ears picked up something.

"Ah-HA! Victory!" A male voice said with triumphant smugness.

"Wow, I didn't expect it to be so quick," A deeper male voice said with a hint of awe, "Good job Mudz."

"Hmp, who do you think I am Russel?" Asked the first voice indignantly, "Of course it was quick."

"Bleagh, this mist and lightning felt funny," An other male voice that was more high-pitched than the last two spoke up, "And kinda creepy, wouldn't you agree Noods?"

"Hai," A distinctively female voice spoke up, "I agree with 2D-kun, it was like it was remodelling us. I didn't particularly like it."

"Oh, hush up you two." The voice from the man that was referred to as Mudz snapped back at the last two voices, " We are here aren't we?"

Naruto turned to look at his mentor slightly as the voices inside the fog bickered for a few moments longer, checking for what course of action they should take. But all the response he got was a slight shake of his head and a hand that told him to sit tight for now, and not do anything but watch for now.

Naruto gave a slight nod and returned to observing the fog.

The fog was dissipating quickly, and soon four humanoid shadows could be made out from within the remains of the fog. As fast as the fog was clearing, Naruto was getting rather impatient with it, as it hid the people that had created that incredible technique. If he didn't know better, he would have thought it was a time-space bending jutsu. But that was impossible, the only one that had ever accomplished that was the Fourth Hokage. Still, the technique was quite impressive, and his impatience was increasing.

Apparently Jiraiya was of the same opinion as he made a few hand sings and a short, but only mildly aggressive, gust of wind blew the remains of the fog away, only to reveal the four unexpected guests of the ninja.

And all the two ninja could do was silently gasp at the appearance of the four new arrivals.

**HELL YEAH! THE FIRST CHAPTER IS DONE! Now, I know its not the best story so far, and definitely not the most common, but please try not to murder me too much over it. Still, its kind of nice getting this idea off my mind, even if its just for a little bit. **

**Again, Constructive criticism is welcome! But no hating on the story alright? Please review and let me know what you think. EVER REVIEW IS APPRECIATED!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Guess who's back? Yes I'm back! And I bring with me a bran new chapter with me to boot! **

**Now I will say just a few things before I reveal my latest chapter. Firstly, I **_**HIGLY **_**recommend that you guys go look up the author **Gwen-Fox **(that's her fanfiction account) and go read her stories. She is an awesome writer. (No, seriously, go read her stuff!). Secondly, I want to thank **Darkly Dreaming Darling** who was the very first person to review my 1****st**** chapter of this story. THANK YOU!**

**One last thing. **_**Don't you find it odd that in so many stories when people are thrown into another world, which could be vastly different from theirs, said people are miraculously the same size as the people on the world they land on?**_** Well, I think that is unlikely, so I will make a small change. The measuring scale for the Gorillaz characters will be slightly larger (79 in: 74 in), Making them slightly bigger in the world of Naruto than their original home world. I think it makes sense due to the fact that, lets be honest, NONE of the Naruto characters look taller than six feet, but apparently Jiraiya is six foot three (I always assumed he wasn't taller than five foot ten at most), so this way it will help make up for the apparent unevenness in the heights.**

**Now, without any more delays, let us continue the story!**

Chapter 2: The arrivals

Naruto and Jiraiya were at a loss for words as they took in the appearance of the foursome that had just materialized in the center of the clearing. However, Jiraiya recovered quickly and took in the appearances of their 'guests' with the skill level worthy of his Sanin tittle.

The first one he noticed was the tall one. In fact, tall was a bit of an understatement. The man was _Tall_ with a capital T! He had to be at least six feet six, if not more! That height was virtually unheard of in any shinobi of the five great nations! Even himself, at six foot three was considered an oddity, and yet this man out did him! But that wasn't his only distinguishing feature, even his strange blue hair wasn't any comparison to his eyes. His eye were what really brought his attention to the tall individual. They were wholly black, not a hint of white anywhere, not even in the sclera where there should be white. His eyes were just orbs of absolute blackness. And that worried him.

_-Is that a bloodline jutsu?- _Jiraiya thought critically,_ -It could very well be a Kekkei Genkai. It remind me of the Byakugan, but tinstead of white eyes its black… Damn it, I have never heard of any such bloodline! If they decide to attack this could be bad…-_

Jiraiya put that thought aside as he made sure to conceal his presence fully. He didn't want to take any chances with this unknown group, which could be a potential enemy. Satisfied with the concealment of his presence, Jiraiya turned back to observe the foursome again. Taking one last glance at the tall man, he noticed he carried a bag over his shoulder. He idly wondered for a moment what the oddly shaped bag could contain, but soon dismissed his curiosity and focused on the next person.

This time, his eyes focused on the small purple haired female, referred to as Noodle by the tall one, next to the tall man that the others had referred to as '2D'. In Jiraiya's opinion, the girl couldn't be more than fourteen, judging by her underdeveloped curves and short stature. She couldn't be more than five foot three or five foot four. Heck, the long guitar bag that hung on her back was only a foot shy from her height. Her comments hinted at some sort of sharp mind, but that was all. Still, she didn't seem like much of a threat, so he moved on to the next person.

The next person, Russel according to the others, was almost as interesting as the man called 2D. Not only because of his dark skin, or because of his wide built body, which was very imposing considering he was about Jiraiya's height, but because his eyes where absolute white, making them the exact opposite of the first man he had examined. It was eerily similar to the Byakugan, and that was a serious cause for concern. It was very possible that he had in front of himself not one, but two bloodline users, from which he had never heard anything of. Considering that he had the best spy network in the entire world, that was a serious cause for concern. Frowning at this, his eyes moved over to the last person, whom was almost as weird as the others.

The last man was odd in the sense his skin color was green, and yet an other thing that was odd about this green man was the fact that one of his eyes was red. Once more Jiraiya frowned. This wasn't good. Since he had never seen anyone that was green skinned, he assumed that this last man, Murdoc according to the others, was also a potential bloodline user. This was quickly getting worse. Apparently there were three that were very likely bloodline users, and since three of them were likely to have Kekkei Genkai, it was also likely that the girl, which he had originally dismissed as the lone with the lowest threat level, was also a bloodline user, meaning that she was likely to have a Kekkei Genkai. In short, all four of them could have potential special powers.

_-Well, shit.-_ Jiraiya thought with resentment. Despite the fact that he was a Sanin, someone that was at the level of a Hokage, or an S-ranked Ninja, he still couldn't just blindly rush in and attack four unknown targets, all of which might potentially have an unknown Kekkei Genkai. This was specially true since he not only was he in the dark regarding the abilities of his opponent, but there was also the fact that he had to take care of apprentice Naruto, which would severely slow him down if they decided to target Naruto.

Jiraiya was beginning to consider retreating into the forest and ambushing the group, or maybe even following from afar, when the decision was suddenly taken away from his hands, when his stupid and impatient apprentice finally couldn't take it anymore and leaped out of his hiding spot, demanding answers from the unknown group.

"HEY YOU!" Naruto screamed out to their 'guests', causing drop their conversation and snap their heads around to look at him, "Who are you and what are you guys doing here?"

Jiraiya swore under his breath. Stupid kid! Couldn't he tell that this was potentially a really bad situation?

The foursome just looked at each other for a moment before they resumed talking amongst themselves, seemingly ignoring the youth that had called out to them completely. Jiraiya sighed in relief. Good. Then again, it could be because these guys either didn't considered Naruto a threat, or were confident enough in their skills that they believed that they could eliminate Naruto with out any problems and, as such, they could afford to ignore him for now.

However, it didn't sit well with Naruto that he was ignored. In fact, he was already all revved up to go after seeing such a powerful technique from their guests, and being ignored only served to make him (somehow) arrive to the conclusion that the suspicious individuals were discussing on how to best get rid of him, which only served to tick him off, and so, with his usual impatience and rashness, Naruto charged straight towards the group with a kunai in hand.

2D snapped his head around to look at the young kid in an orange jumpsuit that had called out to them. The blond and blue-eyed kid had just popped out of nowhere and started demanding answers. Not that he wasn't used to that, after all, celebrities always had to deal with paparazzi, newsmen, interviewers, and fans that always asked questions and called out to them. But still, it was odd to be called out when they had just arrived to a clearing, and he was pretty sure that no one knew of them here.

"Hey, Murdoc," 2D asked the green-skinned man quietly, "Have you ever been to this place before?"

"Never in my party-hard life." Murdoc replied, "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, 'cause that kid seems to want somefing, so I thought that maybe you have been here befo' or somefing…" 2D answered uncertainly.

"Are you stupid or something?" Murdoc asked with exasperation, "Wait, what am I asking, of course you are! Look, you can't come to this world without that chakra thingy that you did, and so far, you re the only one that I know that can use it."

"Hey! Be nice Murdoc!" Noodle chided him, "Besides it's a perfectly valid question."

"Well, you know what? I think that-?" Murdoc was cut short when Russel interrupted him.

"Hey, not to interrupt or anything, but that kid just took out a knife thingy… And I think he is planning on making use of it!"

The three bickering friends instantly turned around, just in time to see the unknown kid

rushing towards them at outstanding speed with a knife in hand. The unknown blonde kid was upon them in a heartbeat, and they all instinctually jumped away from him when he swung his knife towards them.

However, they didn't expect to jump away about twelve feet into the air and land twenty feet away from the blond kid. 2D had been so surprised that he had almost lost his balance in mid air and landed head first into the ground.

The band members were stunned, and had the same singled thought running through their minds. –_How…? What just…? I did that? Wow.-_

However they had no more time to dwell upon that mystery due to a certain blonde that somehow created three more clones of himself before each of the four blonde kids rushed to a different band member.

One of the blonde attackers reached 2D, and began attacking him mercilessly, kicking and punching at 2D, who managed to doge the barrage of attacks based on pure instinct, which had been honed and refined considerably due to all the times he got attacked by Murdoc. In fact, one would almost have to wonder if he could see the future with the way he was dodging.

Russel was under similar circumstances, with the difference that he had managed to catch one of the fists of his attacker and wrap him in a bear hug, squeezing him tightly with the intent of making him pass out from lack of oxygen before releasing him.

Murdoc, on the other hand, was relentlessly weaving a string of curses as he blocked his personal blonde attacker, while he lashed out at him ruthlessly with his own punches and jabs, scoring a few hits on the blond.

Lastly, Noodle was effortlessly weaving around the blonde's attacks and blocking the few that she couldn't avoid or found hard to doge, while she skillfully lashed out with her own kicks and punches at her enemy.

The fight didn't last long, seen as after no more than half a minute, the three of the clones dissipated in a cloud of smoke with a 'puff' sound, revealing that only 2D's attacker was left. Shocked by the disappearance of the other three blonde attackers, 2D failed to react in time as a flying kick was directly aimed at his head.

The kick connected with 2D's skull painfully, and sent him flying into a massive oak tree headfirst. A sickening crack was heard a moment later, and a large crack appeared on the opposite side of the tree that 2D's head had impacted upon.

"2D!" Noodle, and Russel screamed in unison as they saw the tall singer fly headfirst into the tree, while Murdoc growled at the sight and quickly turned to face the blond attacker. It was his singer damn it! Only he was allowed to beat the shit of 2D for no apparent reason.

Noodle rushed towards the site of impact while Russel and Murdoc rushed to place themselves between the last blond attacker and the 2D, fully intent on stopping the blond from reaching the singer and Noodle.

However, before the blonde kid could even touch the ground after his flying kick on the singer, a white haired man blurred into existence and grabbed him by the foot and suspended him up-sided down, causing the blonde to yelp out in surprise.

"You idiot!" The white haired man screamed at the blonde kid while he shook him by the foot, "Have you any idea what you just did?"

"Hey! Let me down you perverted Toad Sage!" The blond screamed back at him indignantly, "I was winning!"

"My ass you were!" The Toad Sage replied, " Let me ask you again; Naruto, do you have any idea what you just did?"

Naruto just grumbled as he was still hanging upside down from the iron grip of the Toad Sanin. "No, but I was _winning_!"

"Argh! You stupid kid!" Jiraiya said with frustration, dropping Naruto on his head, " Did you even bother to get a good look at them? Do you see how different their physical features are? Specifically, do you see their eyes? And do you see that one? He is green! They could all be Kekkei Genkai users! What would you have done if they were _all _Kekkei Genkai users? What would you have done if they all decided to use their bloodlines power, huh? Do I have to remind you how hard it is to deal with people like that? Have you already forgotten how strong the Hyuga and Uchiha clans are? Think you idiot!"

Naruto was forced to think things over then. He had to admit, Jiraiya did bring up some very important points. Fighting ONE Kekkei Genkai user was bad enough, but fighting four was suicide, even for someone like him, who had spectacular healing abilities.

While Naruto thought his words over, Jiraiya turned to address the two men that were still blocking Jiraija and Naruto from the blue-haired singer and the guitarist girl.

"My apologies. My apprentice here, Naruto, was very rash and decided to attack you. I am so terribly sorry for that. I swear we'll make it up to you." Jiraiya said honestly, though inwardly he was wincing as he knew that Naruto had kicked the tall man with a chakra enhanced kick right on the head, and he had not felt or seen the blue-haired man activate any sort of defense or chakra flow to his head or neck. Even if Naruto was not the greatest at chakra manipulation, he already had great speed and strength for someone his age, and he was more than strong enough to be able to break bones. In short, even if the man was a jonin (A high level ninja), without any defense or way of escaping he was likely dead right now. He knew first hand how powerful a chakra enhanced hit could be, and when someone like Naruto kicked with a chakra-enhanced kick, it was more than strong enough to shatter a person's unprotected neck into powder.

He was going to wring Naruto's neck for killing the man, and double up his training too. It wasn't easy making peace with anyone who was related to someone you just killed, and an "I am sorry" was certainly not going to cut it. Worse of all, Jiraiya was Naruto's Tutor and Mentor, so it was his responsibility to pay up for Naruto's errors, which meant that he was going to have to pay up to help make up with these guys.

_-Naruto, I swear I am going to put you through the wringer for this!-_ Jiraiya swore in his mind.

Murdoc looked at the white haired man in front of him and analyzed him with near surgical precision. The man was wearing good clothes, made of obviously light but resistant material, the headband he wore was made of silver, not steel like the blonde kid's, his face was lined with age though not enough for him to be more than fifty or sixty, his eyes also carried a spark of intelligence and knowledge, and further more, his stance was confident and serious. Murdoc smirked inwardly. It was the kind of man that had connections. Lots and lots of connections. He could use this to his advantage.

"Whot the hell man?" Murdoc asked, pretending to be more angry than he actually was. After all, the dullard had survived serious accidents all his life, why would it be any different now? He could make use of this man while he believed that 2D was seriously injured. "That brat just pops out of no were and starts demanding answers like he is royalty, and then he starts dishing out punches and kicks left, right, and center! Not to mention that he also begins throwing knives around like its nobodies business, and to top it all off, he blows my singer cross the whole frigging clearing with a kick to the head! How are you going to make up for that huh? That was attempted murder, that's what it was!"

Russel looked at Murdoc for an instant, realizing something was up. Murdoc was not cursing as much as he usually did when he was pissed. Yet his facial expressions definitely were playing the role of a very pissed of person, and he had that little murky twinkle in his eyes... That usually meant he had a plan, or something along those lines, but the fact was, but for once Russel didn't really care. In fact, at the moment couldn't have agreed more with him. That blow to 2D's head could easily leave him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

"Yeah man," Russel said as he joined in the conversation, "That blow could have easily killed a person, I mean, shit, 2D frigging _flew_ a good thirty or forty feet man!"

Jiraiya winced at the men's accusations. It didn't help that he was being stared down by those creepy mismatched eyes that the green man had. They were oddly unnerving. "I realize that. I am willing to do anything I can to make up for your loss."

"Anything?" Murdoc asked slyly, a small grin appearing in his face. All the sudden Jiraiya had the feeling that he might regret those words in the future.

"Yes, anything, it was, after all, the fault of my-!" Jiraiya was saying solemnly when a different voice cut him off.

"Bloody Hell that hurt!" 2D said loudly

Noodle dashed to the site of impact were 2D had crashed against a massive oak tree, not stopping to realize that she had reached the location much more quicker than she would have normally. She plunged into the already dissipating small cloud of dirt and wooden powder that had been created by the force of the impact, and quickly located 2D laying against ten-foot crater on the massive oak tree, blood trickling down the side of his head, nose, and out of his mouth, covering nearly half of his face in crimson liquid, his left arm was slumped limply over his side, and his shirt was disturbingly soaked with large stains of blood. All in all, he was a disturbing sight to behold.

"2D…2D, are you okay?" Noodle asked with uncertainty as she crouched down to 2D's level. She gingerly flipped him onto his back, careful of supporting his head as she did so. Surprisingly enough, 2D's neck was seemingly intact, but that didn't mean he was fine. The blow could have fractured the skull, caused internal damage, create internal bleeding, and a number of other nasty things that could spell the end for the singer. And for that reason, as soon as the Japanese girl flipped him over, she checked his vitals with the standard First Aid procedure.

-_Good, he is breathing.-_ Noodle sighed in relief at that. _–His pulse is strong too. God, how is he not dead? The tree cracked!-_

"2D…Hey 2Deeeee?" Noodle called out to him as she shook him slightly, ignoring the fact that she was grabbing onto his shoulder, which was partially coated in already drying blood.

2D began to slowly open and close his eyes, at first only seeing blurred shadows and hearing muffled and incoherent noises, but the clarity his vision and hearing were improving by the second, and soon trying to make out the who's shadow he was seeing above him.

-_Hmm? Who's that?-_2D thought vaguely,_-When…When did I lay down? Come to think of it… Why does the side of my head feel hot and wet….?-_

And as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice-cold water on him, recalled why he was on the floor, and a split of second later a strong pang of pain coursed though his head, causing him to bolt up right, almost smacking his head against Noodle's, and shout.

"Bloody Hell that hurt!" 2D shouted as he held the side of his head, effectively startling Noodle and everyone else in the clearing.

"2D you shouldn't scream so loudly," Noodle told him gently, "That can't be good for you right now, especially since you could have hurt your jaw when you crashed into the tree."

"Sorry luv, but it just kinda came out." 2D said somewhat sheepishly, " Man, does that kid have rockets attached to his feet or somefing?"

"Never mind that, let me check your head." Noodle said as she reached over to examine the side of 2D's head meticulously.

Mean time, Jiraiaya was picking up his jaw from the ground and trying to figure out how was it that the guy called 2D was not dead yet.

_-How? Naruto put more than enough force in that kick to shatter the bones of his neck and even fracture his skull, I am sure of it! But how is it that he is able to move then? He shouldn't even be able to talk! And yet… And yet he is right there, acting as if this was nothing more than an everyday accident. Did he manage to put up a guard? No… Naruto caught him completely off guard in every physical sense… A chakra defense? Impossible, his chakra readings would have spiked the moment he did that and I felt nothing of the sort, not even a slight increase in his chakra levels. An ability? But when would he have activated it? By the time the kick came in contact with him he wouldn't even have had time to think… His Kekkei Genkai then? But when did he activate it…?-_

Naruto, for his part, was still mauling in his head how he would have gotten out of been attacked by four Kekkei Genkai at the same time, and as much as he hated to admitted, he had no clue how to go about defending himself if their abilities were anything like the Kekkei Genkai he had faced before. The only two possible out comes he could think up were to take them down with the sheer numbers of his shadow clones or using the Kubi's chakra, and neither of the options appealed to him much.

"Hey, ero-sanin." Naruto called out to Jiraiya, except that he received no answer. Mildly surprised by the lack of response of the perverted Sanin, he turned to face Jiraiya and addressed him again. "Hey pervy Sage? Heeeelllooooo, Pervy Sage? Earth to Jiraiya, is anybody home?"

No response. Now Naruto was really getting ticked by the Toad Sage.

"HEY YOU, WAKE UP!" Naruto all but shouted in the ear of the Toad Sage, leaving Jiraiya's ear ringing from the loudness of Naruto's voice.

"GAH!" Jiraiya screamed as he jumped away from Naruto a couple of feet. "What the hell was that for, you brat? Can't you tell I am thinking? You should really respect your elders, especially when the elder you are disrespecting is your tutor and can double up your training!"

"Hey, no need to get so up tight about it Pervy Sage. I just wanted to know how _would_ you go about fighting four Kekkei Genkai users at the same time."

"Ha! Its not that easy brat. First you would have to figure out how their Kekkei Genkai work, plus the physical abilities of the individuals. Then you have to take into account what possibilities are available to them with their Kekkei Genkai, and their limitations, if any, and you also have to account for how they work together. In short, its not easy, and definitely something that I would rather never have to do, especially if all four enemies are above a low Jonin level."

"Gah! That sounds so complicated." Naruto complained as he held his head, trying to figure out how anyone could do that in the heat of battle.

"What did you expect brat? Kekkei Genkai are difficult even by themselves, but when you are dealing with four _different_ and _unknown_ Kekkei Genkai nothing is simple."

"Ahem." Murdoc interrupted coughed loudly, interrupting Naruto's and Jiraiya's conversation. He had heard several interesting things that he planed to ask about in the future, but for now, he had to get the basic stuff done. "If you, sir Sage, or whatever your name is, and that shrimp are done talking, do you mind helping us out a bit?"

Jiraiya and Naruto were brought back from their argument to their surroundings, both becoming aware of a certain blue-haired singer that was now standing up with the help of a certain purpled haired Asian Axe Princess.

Pushing aside his surprise of seen him standing so soon after Naruto's attack, Jiraiya maintained his composure and glanced over at Naruto.

"Go apologize, Naruto."

"Huh? But-!" Naruto began saying before he was slapped on the back of the head by Jiraiya, whose eyes clearly said '_Go and apologize to them. NOW! Or else.'_ Which was enough for Naruto to get going, and soon he was earnestly apologizing to each of the Band members individually.

"Hmp! Just make sure you don't do it again kid." The green one answered haughtily at Naruto when he apologized. It was pretty obvious to Naruto that this one had an ego fit to rival even Sasuke's. Inwardly Naruto groaned. If all the green one's team mates were like him, this was certainly not going to be an enjoyable task.

"Don't worry about it kid." The large, white-eyed one answered Naruto when he apologized, "But take my advice, you better reign in that temper of yours. If that kick had hit anyone but 2D they would have likely been dead, and I doubt you want that weighing on your conscious, especially if the person turned out to be an innocent person."

Naruto got the feeling that the large one was the smart and gentlemanly type, which reminded him greatly of the Hiuga Clan's embers. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he found the attitude more likeable than the attitude of the green one.

As Naruto approached the last two members of the weird band of people that had appeared in the clearing, he noticed that the girl edged slightly in front of the blue-haired man, whom seemed to examine him with surgical precision, while his face clearly told Naruto that the man was weary of him. Not that Naruto could blame him, he would also have been weary of a random person that was approaching him out of the blue, especially if said random person had just popped out of nowhere and then delivered a chakra enhanced flying spinning kick at his head, and, to top it off, said kick had sent him flying head first into a tree just minutes ago.

"What do you want?" The girl asked bluntly, obviously not pleased with the blonde having attacked them and nearly killing her best and only friend.

Naruto stopped advancing towards them with a good ten feet between himself and the pair before taking a deep breath and beginning his apology.

"I came to apologize to the two of you for what I did. I am really, _reaaaally_ sorry about that. I thought you guys were missing-nin or something like that."

"Missing-ning?" Noodle asked incredulously, and quite obviously still irritated at the blonde youth, "What the _heck_ IS a missing-nin? And whatever it is, I doubt it gives you the right of attacking random people with those weird tricks of yours without confirming their identities. If it hadn't been 2D whom you had hit but an other person, they would have died!"

"And further more-!" Noodle cut herself off when she felt a large hand touch her shoulder, causing her to turn her head to look at the tall singer. "… 2D?"

"Calm down luv." 2D said in a soothing tone. It wouldn't do her any good to get worked up about the incident right now.

"…You do know you are too nice for your own good, right 2D-kun?" Noodle asked.

"Thanks Noods." 2D said as he gave her one of his signature smiles that revealed the gap of his two front teeth, which calmed her down somewhat.

"Heya mate, I'm 2D." 2D said before he turned to look at Naruto and offered him a hand.

Surprised by the sudden change in the attitude that was directed at him by the man he had almost killed, Naruto was too stunned for an instant to do or say anything, none the less, being who he is, he recovered quickly and shook 2D's hand with a big smile.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Shinobi from the Leaf and future Hokage!" Naruto said proudly.

"Nice too meet you. By the way, this is Noodle." 2D said happily as he presented the blonde his best friend.

"How do you do?" Noodle said politely, though her tone was still slightly annoyed though her temper was noticeably simmering down. After all, if 2D was fine, and willing to forgive the blonde, she supposed she couldn't stay mad at the blonde…not for TOO long anyways.

"Hey, Naruto?" 2D asked curiously, "You were saying a lot of weird things that I don't get. Like, what's a missing-nin? Or a shinobi? Or this place that you call the Leaf? Or is it a place? Because if it isn't, then that be very odd, wouldn't it? I mean, unless the Leaf is a monument… but would that make shinobi somefing like Mounties? But you don't look like a Mountie, so-!"

"2D… You are veering of topic and ranting again" Noodle said with a giggle.

Mean time, Naruto's eyes were bulging out of his skull. How was it possible that these people didn't know something so basic as what a shinobi was? _EVERYONE_ knew what a shinobi was! And what the Leaf was, and what a missing-nin was. Where did these guys come from?

"Are you serious?" Naruto asked incredulously.

2D and Noodle glanced at each other before responding in synchronization, "Yes."

And that moment marked the start of a budding friendship between the singer, the guitarist girl, and the blonde Ninja.

**WHAA! I finally finished the chapter. Woah, it took me longer than I thought, though I did just start university, so I suppose it is to be expected. Anyways, there you go! Hope you like it, and PLEASE don't forget to review! =D**


	3. Chapter 3

**BOOM! Guess who my friends? That's right, the Dragon is back! Alright, so I finally have some time to sit down and write, so here I am! Now, first things first; I got a couple of things I need to make you all aware of, so here I go:**

**First, I have added a "Heads Up!" Section in my profile, in which I'll add important notices and blurbs about my current stories and, in the future, up coming stories. Currently there is already a notice up, (though its probably not so much for this story, but that depends on you people) although it's more for my other story, "Awake Again", but I thought you guys might like to know that.  
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**Secondly, I want to give especial thanks to ** angel 16 **,** Kaminari Wolfblood **, **GhostRvB **, **Darkly Dreaming Darling **, **TsukiUchiha13 **, and** Yoshi-Strange **. You guys are awesome! Thank you for reviewing so much! **

**Lastly, PLEASE remember that I love reviews, so Please review the chapter.**

**Alright, now that that is out of the way, Lets begin the story!**

Chapter 3

Jiraiya, Naruto, and the four members of Gorillaz were walking through the forest on their way towards the small village were Naruto and Jiraiya currently resided, taking their time to talk and exchange information about each other.

"So," Naruto began, "You've never heard of missing-nin? Or shinobi? Not even about the Village hidden in the leaves?"

"Er…no?" 2D answered somewhat awkwardly, shifting the weight of his rather large backpack slightly. It felt odd having a child interrogate you about things that were obviously everyday things for him and yet you being completely at a loss about what he was going on a bout.

"That's weird." Naruto stated bluntly, "You definitely were moving like a shinobi though, and you certainly have good reflexes."

"Really? Thanks!" 2D answered merrily with a smile, even though he still didn't understand what a shinobi was, though it sounded like a good thing from the way the blond said it. The kid might have landed him a good kick on the head earlier, but he was certainly very friendly when he wasn't trying to kill you.

"So, " Nartuo began excitedly, "Where are you from? How did you learn to move like that? Why are your eyes so weird, and the big guy has funny eyes to, he reminds me of the Hiuga ya know? Oh! And him! Is he really green or did he paint his own skin? And-?"

"NARUTO!" Jiraiya cut him off, "Give them room to breathe you brat! You can't just be off and firing questions like that to someone who you just attacked like you did."

Naruto visibly flinched at the mention of the attack. Now that he was getting to know them, he realized that they really weren't bad…. Well, he wasn't sure about the green one, but the other three seemed like really nice people. Worst of all, they weren't even ninja! If they had been anyone else, this could have sparked a definitely troublesome incident for him and Jiraiya. A ninja attacking an innocent civilian for no reason could be severely punished by law in most, if not all, the elemental nations.

"Sorry…" Naruto apologized a bit crestfallen.

"No problem. Right Noods?" 2D replied.

"Hmm?" Noodle answered, "Oh, yeah. No problem."

"So," Murdoc interrupted, "Jiraiya, was it?"

"Yes. An you are Mr. Murdoc right?" Jiraiya replied.

"That's right." Murdoc answered, "The blue-haired idiot there is 2D, the purple haired girl is Noodle, and the big one there that is carrying the huge hockey bag is Russel."

"Pleasure to meet you all." Jiraiya said politely. Right now, etiquette and manners were required.

"Yes, well, anyways," Murdoc continued before any one else could reply to Jiraiya's greetings, "Enough with the pleasantries. First things first, do you know were we are?"

"Yes, well, " Jiraiya responded, slightly perturbed by the fact that the man had so quickly disregarded etiquette, but he quickly shrugged it off. For all he knew this was natural in whatever land they were from they came from. "Currently, we are in the Lighting Country, roughly 130 miles from the nearest major city, more or less. Right now we are headed for a small village where me and my apprentice are staying to sleep at."

"I see…" Murdoc answered pensively and for a moment or two, no one talked, before Murdoc's eyes suddenly lit up and a devious grin appeared on his face, "Well, since we literally know nothing of this place, and since you promised to do _anything_ to make it up to us… then I guess we have no choice."

"Pardon?" Jiraiya asked in confussion. What was this guy getting at…? Oh wait… no. No. Nononono! This couldn't really be going where he thought it was going! ... Could it?

"Well its quite simple mate." Murdoc answered as if it was the most natural thing in the world, his grin growing by the second, "You promised to do anything for us, right? And we know _Nothing_ about this place. We have no food, no shelter, no job, no _nothing._ So, here is what's going to happen. _YOU_ are taking _us_ with you, and help us get a job, and train us if necessary, and you will fill us in about this… place."

Jiraiya froze, stopping in mid stride. He was at a loss at what to say to that, his eyes bulging out of his sockets and his mouth agape. Out of all the things that Murdoc could have asked, _this_ was the last thing that he expected. In fact, everyone was looking at him with surprise.

"Hey Mudz!" Russel called out to him, causing everyone to turn to look at him. "Hang on a second there Mudz. We _can't_ ask this man to take care of us permanently. The burden would be pretty large on his income. I agree that we should have him teach us about this place and some skills, but we can't make the man pay for us indefinitely."

_-That man is an angel!-_ Jiraiya thought gratefully, almost crying in thanks for the defense that Russel had offered. Somehow, he managed to contain himself from bursting into tears of joy.

Grumbling, Murdoc glared at Russel, who just stared at him with an impassive but set glare. He shot a quick glance at Noodle and 2D for support, but neither of them responded. Apparently, they were _not_ going to drive the man into bankruptcy. End of the discussion.

Giving an exasperated sigh, Murdoc started up again, "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! Fine. But he is going to have to teaches how to live here, teach us all he can while he can, and he is going to set us up with a job, help us find a residency appropriate for us, and…AND he will have to exchange information with us. Satisfied now, Russ?"

Russel merely nodded and went back to listening to the conversation, clearly dismissing the glare that Murdoc was giving him as if it was nothing more than a fly that was buzzing by, much to the irritation of Murdoc and the surprise of the Toad Sage. Either the man had balls of steel, or he was much tougher than he seemed…or possibly both.

Turning back towards Jiraiya, Murdoc looked at him evenly for a moment before finally speaking up.

"So de we have a deal then, Jiraiya?"

"Just wait a sec here… Why would I want to exchange information with you? What could you possibly offer me?" Jiraiya asked suspiciously, and with good reason. Any sensible person would be weary of a group of strangers, particularly one that had just appeared out of a billowing cloud of smoke and lightning. Besides, he had the best spy network in the all the elemental nations, the knowledge of several hundred, if not thousands, of jutsu, and he already was keeping his eye on Naruto. What could they possibly offer him?

But much to his annoyance and, to some degree, unsettlement, Murdoc just stared at him for a second blankly, before he began to utter a low chuckle, which soon grew into a full throated laughter. He laughed a good hard laugh at Jiraiya, something that had not happened to him for easily thirty or forty some years now.

"Aw man, that was good." Murdoc said once he had settled down enough to talk, wiping a small tear that had escaped his eye from laughing too hard, "Anyways, sorry about that. So, since you ask, allow me to explain. It's really quite simple, but I will lead you a bit before I fully explain what I mean. Lets start here; Do you notice anything odd about us besides our biological features?"

Jiraiya stared at them for a minute, wondering briefly what the green man was getting at but he decided to play along. He stared at the group for a moment or two before he finally came to a conclusion.

"Your clothes." Jiraiya said confidently, "It's like nothing I have ever seen before. The fabric of the pants you are all wearing seems to be tough and malleable, even if somewhat restricting. The shirts you all wear are also quite different than from what I am used to seeing wear normally. The girl, for example, has a stripped shirt of purple and blue, while you are wearing a black shirt with long sleeves."

"Bingo! We have a winner!" Murdoc said overenthusiastically, with a hint of mocking mixed into it, "That's right, out clothes. The pants you see all of us wearing are called 'Jeans'. Normally they are called 'Blue Jeans', since they are blue like the ones the blue-haired face-ache and Noodle are wearing back there but there are other colors, such as the black ones I am wearing right now, or the brown ones that Russel has. Do you know why you have never seen this kind of clothes before?"

Admittedly, Jiraiya was stumped at that question. Usually he was well informed on the usual outfits of the shinobi of all the elemental nations, however, this was the first time he ever saw clothes that resembled the ones they had on. Finally, he gave up trying to figure it out.

"Not a clue."

"Of course you don't! They are not from anywhere in these so called Elemental Nations!" Murdoc said triumphantly, much to the surprise of Jiraiya, "The fashion that you see on us is much different than what you are used to, but its not all we have to offer. We all know a fair bit about it since, after all, it was very closely tied to our previous line of work. Looking good played an important part of our career. The blue haired idiot and the Purple haired girl are particularly artistic and well versed in the arts, including fashion of many types. Now, let me ask you an other thing, have you ever seen anything like… this!"

Murdoc's hand darted in and out from his pocket in a flash, and when he had retrieved his hand from the pocket, he was palming his iPhone. Waving it in front of Jiraiya for a second confirmed that the people from the world the Gorillaz found themselves in had never even imagined anything like it, let alone own anything close to it. The wonder in Jiraiya's eyes was quite clear as Murdoc, with the help of Russel now and then, proceeded explains to him the basic features of it. Even if there was no signal (since there were no Satellites), Jiraiya was more than thoroughly impressed with the little device.

"Prodigious!" Jiraiya breathed out, "This little device holds such amazing power with in it! The amount of seals… No, the amount of technology and techniques to produce a _single_ one of these must be superbly outstanding! Just making one could take years!"

"Yet an other little thing that we have that you don't." Murdoc stated, obviously pleased by the fact that he had impressed Jiraiya, "Technology. This, actually, is not that complicated compared to some other things from where we come from, but it's a fairly intricate piece of technology."

"Do you know how to make those things?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

Murdoc just snorted at that.

"This? HA! I can do much better than this. I could make my own cyborg if I wanted to. The Dullard down there is also great at tinkering with bits and piece of metal. You wouldn't believe what he can do with just some odd bits and ends of metal and wires. He once made a whole set of customized keyboard out of trash he found in a landfill in less than a day. And Russel and Noodle are nothing to sneeze at either. If you want anything to do with vehicles and transportation and repairing, Russel is your guy. He even found a way to pimp out animals, if you know what I mean. And Noodle? Oh she is an excellent interface designer and security system designer, and she can hack into some pretty high tech stuff. So, can we make stuff like this? Oh yes. Yes we can."

Jiraiya hadn't understood half of the terms that Murdoc had used to answer his question, but he had heard what he needed to. They were able to build some of their amazing technology, and that was enough to make them worth their weight in diamonds for ANY of the elemental countries. Getting them on their side would definitely beneficial for the Leaf.

"Oh, and we got just an other thing too." Murdoc said, a smirk gracing his lips once again as he saw Jiraiya's eyes widen slightly. He couldn't blame the man though. From the perspective of Jiraiya, the band members were severely advanced technologically. In the elemental Nations even the device known as "television" was fairly new and only displayed black and white pictures.

Murdoc doubted they even had fire weapons actually, like guns or even black powder muskets, or even anything that required more elevticity than a basic pocket calculator. And if his haunch was correct, and this man was pretty high up in the important people list, then that would mean that they had already had made themselves very important people, just because they knew how to make this kind of devices. But he needed to guarantee himself and the band a spot near this man, they needed to learn about this new world in order to survive and the best way to do it would be getting this man on their side, he was sure of it.

Jiriaya, for his part, wasn't sure he could take much more excitement than he had already. There was just so much…. Oh, so much _Opportunity_, just presenting its self to him in a silver platter. First he got to train Naruto personally, something he considered an achievement on its self. But then he found not _one_ nor _two_ nor even just _three_ people that had huge potential for shinobi, if their way of fighting without training was anything to go by, but he had found _FOUR_. FOUR people that were at least in the low rank chunnin (mid-level ninja) _without _training, if their actions were anything to go by… except, perhaps, the girl. She seemed to have received some sort of training at some point.

And then, this four people happened to know nothing of the elemental nations, BUT they were potential Blood Limit users and potential allies of the Leaf, also, they had the ability to advance the Leaf technologically through their inventions, and economically through their fashion for the civilians. Truth be told, it was a bit suspicious that it all seemed to happen so coincidentally, but if they wanted to travel Jiraiya, it would give him an opportunity to study them and gather some information about them. In conclusion, this was a very favorable deal, bot for him and the Leaf. So it was understandable why he was about to start drooling with just thinking of all the possibilities this individuals could bring in tow for him, Naruto, and the Village.

"What? What is it? What else do you have to offer?" Jiraiya said, failing to erase all traces of excitement in his voice.

All four band members smiled, and simultaneously said "Music!"

~~/~~/~~/~~

Jiraiya and Naruto were seated in a room of the village's _Music & Entertainment_ building, a business which revolved around selling instruments and renting out soundproof rooms to teenagers and adults alike where recitals and music practices could be carried out with out having to worry about cranky neighbors or interruptions from their families while they practiced. It was a relatively small locale, with only four practice rooms and the main body of the shop, but it was decent and it had a reputation for respecting costumer privacy.

Jiraiya watched with fascination at the instruments the band pulled out. 2D removed his customized set of keyboards from his backpack, his megaphone and two smallish cubic amplifiers that were at most eight cubic inches each, Noodle unpacked her favorite blue and purple guitar, Murdoc removed his favorite Flying V Bass guitar from its own case, and Russel unfolded a foldable electric powered drum set and an other small amplifier.

While the band members were setting up and Jiriaya wastrying to examine the instruments from afar, Naruto let his mind wander for a bit, until it settled on the memory of what he had occurred in the forest not so long ago. He couldn't help it. The memory tugged at his thoughts, forcing him to wonder what sort of spectacle he could expect from the weird people he had found in the forest earlier that day.

_Flashback_

Jiraiya's face had gone from fascination to puzzlement as soon as the band members said the word "Music". How could that possibly be favorable for him or the Leaf? Admittedly, he would have already agreed to their terms just at the mention of the technology and the possibility of training the four of them to be allied shinobi of the leaf. The prospect of increased revenue for the Leaf due to fashion was just a bonus, but the fact that the group had stated the word "Music" with so much enthusiasm and conviction and the way their eyes had sparkled….It was as if they had just mentioned a revolutionary idea, or as if they wad just revealed a glimpse of a fearsome creature that they alone commanded. Their entire essence seemed to flare up in excitement ever so slightly at the mention of it, their eyes became a tad more fierce and proud, their composures became more regal, their voices a twinge stronger, and their stride just a dash more confident and powerful.

The change in their guests caused Jiraiya to have a small chill of excitement run down his back, and the change in their guests didn't go unnoticed by Naruto either. Though he didn't quite understand why, he definitely felt the spark of the guests inspire him, and his respect and curiosity of them grew in that single instant. Some how, he guessed that whatever the band mates referred to as music was something much more powerful and deep than he had ever heard. Like his teacher, he felt a shiver of excitement run down his back.

"Music, huh?" Jiraiya finally ventured to comment after a slight pause, "Well, how about you show us what you can do then?"

"Sure, why not?" Murdoc shrugged dismissively, "Lets get going then."

"Pardon?" Jiraiya asked again with puzzlement, "I thought you said you were going to demonstrate?"

"And we are. Why do you think we are going to wards the village?"

"Why can't you perform here?"

"Because we have no electricity."

"So?" Jiraiya commented inquisitively.

"What do you mean so?" Murdoc asked with annoyance as he had a rather short temperament.

"Mudz are you retarded or what?" Russel finally interrupted, "They probably don't_ use_ electricity to power their instruments like we do. In fact, I would suppose that there _aren't_ any bands in this age yet. They probably have orchestras, operas, and things like that but no rock or punk or electrical, or metal, or new age bands or _ANYTHING_ along those lines. All their music is probably classical or something along those lines. Perhaps they have Jazz at most, I would suspect."

"Jazz? Punk? Rock? Metal? New age? What's all that?" Naruto jumped in, eager to find out about terms that the newcomers were using. Whatever those things were, the names sounded pretty awesome.

"Are you serious?" Noodle said with a raised eyebrow, which only got her a blank look from Naruto that definitely said "Not a frigging clue."

"Oh, those are just Music styles." 2D said sagely, which was odd, since he was generally the slow one of the band when it came to thinking. Then again, if it was related to music he could be pretty quick mentally.

"There is more than one style?" Naruto asked puzzled.

2D just blinked and Noodle gaped at him. There was no way….no way that Music was actually so limited in this world that people had so few styles that people actually had to ask if there was more than one.

Noodle was the first of the two to be able to articulate words of the, and as such she was the one that asked the question; "Are you joking?"

Naruto just blinked, clearly still confused and trying to understand how there could be more than one style of music, as he nodded his head.

As if his nod had physically slapped 2D and Noodle, they snapped his head back to Murdoc and Jiraiya, 2D's face was dead serious for once the first time in…well, ever. It put Murdoc on edge. He had never seen him like this before, and it certainly made him edgy. Especially when, despite the absolute blackness of 2D's eyes, he managed to make it very clear that he was staring very pointedly at Murdoc.

Murdoc could have almost confused 2D for someone else entirely. A serious and demanding 2D was… Unnatural. More so than even the Zombies at KONG. Zombies he knew how to handle, and it was actually quite simple as there were a number of ways to go about it, like cutting the head, incinerating the whole body, a bullet to the brain, setting them on fire, and so on. A 2D that all the sudden turned serious and demanding and all the sudden seemed to be even more imposing than Russel due to his height… Now _that_ was one of the few things that he didn't know how to handle. It didn't help that the usually sweet and caring Noodle was also staring at him like she meant business.

It was then that he discovered something that had eluded him all his life; When someone that is always kind and relaxed suddenly gets serious and angry, they could be scary as hell.

Jiriaya naturally noticed the discomfort of the green skinned man almost immediately, but was forced to dismiss it almost instantly when the tall man and the short girl turned to face him. 2D could stand many things. Beatings, insults, tortures, and a great deal more if needed be. He had a tough body, and he knew it. The fact that he had been hit by a car in the head doing a hundred miles an hour and survived without broken bones was an statement to that, the fact that he was sent flying out of a car at eighty miles an hour and crashed into a the curb of the road and stood up like it was nothing had only reinforced the fact. However, he could not, would not, stand for the restriction of music, and neither would Noodle. For both of them there were only had three things in life; music, Gorillaz, and Each other. Noodle was an orphan, and 2D's remaining family, which was only his mother and father, had died a year ago in a blazing inferno that had destroyed their home and twenty eight other buildings in their neighborhood. Neither of them had anything outside Gorillaz and Music, save each other, and as such, the idea of Music being so severely ignored wounded them, insulted them even.

They were going to have to make a few changes around here. _BIG_ changes.

"Take us to the nearest village." 2D _commanded_ Jiraiya. It wasn't a request. It was an order. Something Jiraiya took as an insult for a moment, but after seeing the look in the eyes of both, 2D and Noodle, he nodded. It would do him no good to start an argument here and potentially cause them to turn their back on him and at the same time Konoha. It would be better to take them to the village, which wasn't far now anyways, and then extract the reasons for their actions calmly and with a touch of sensitivity, rather than press them for answers here and now.

"Our instruments of music utilize electricity to operate." Noodle added briskly and resolutely, "Once we get to the village we will show you our music and explain, maybe even show you, different stiles of music."

Jiraiya and Naruto stared at each other for a split of second before they turned on their heels and started walking briskly towards the village, with the band members following right at their heels.

_Flashback end_

-_I wonder what they meant by different styles of music…-_ Naruto thought idly to himself once he finished reminiscing the event in his mind, a thought that was cut short by a question of the burly man known as Russel.

"Hey, kid."

"Yeah?"

"Can ya help me find an electrical outlet in this room? I need to connect my drums to power them up."

"Drums? What drums?" Naruto asked immediately, his curiosity spiking due to the fact that there were no drums in the room. All that Russel had taken out was a bunch of thick, disk like plates with a rubbery look that were attached to some kind of stand.

"This ones." Russel said simply pointing at the disk like structures.

"But those are -!"

"You'll see kid. Now help me find the plug in." Russel said with a chuckle.

Curious to see what the device did, Naruto eagerly helped the man find an electric outlet. It wasn't long before Naruto found a cord from a lamp (which blended in with the carpet of the place very well) and traced it back to behind a simple blue couch that lay against one of the large white and green walls of the room. It was a single outlet with a short extension cord that connected to a multi plug-connector allowed a person to plug up to six different electrical devices into it, which considering the circumstances was just about right.

"Here it is!" Naruto exclaimed when he finally pushed the couch far enough so that the multi-plug was visible.

"Excellent. Thanks Kid." Russel exclaimed briefly before he reached for the multi-plu and connected his drum set to it. Since the drums were connected to their own portable Amplifier, he only needed to plug that one cord. Noodle proceeded to do the same, taking up an other plug in that belonged to her amplifier (which connected to her guitar), and so did Murdoc. Lastly, 2D took up the last plug in (since the sixth was occupied by the lamp Naruto had used to track it down), connecting it to his home-made Keyboards.

"All set?" Murdoc asked 2D, whom proceeded to check the plugs before giving Murdoc the thumbs up.

"Good." Murdoc said briefly, already slipping into his Band-Leader mode as he finished tuning up his guitar. Taking a quick look around the room, Murdoc checked that everyone was done adjusting their instruments before he turned back to look at Jiraiya and Naruto.

"Alright you two," Murdoc addressed the two ninja, "You are about to be the first in this world to hear us, so you better listen closely." Then he turned his head and addressed the band, "What should we start off with? Kids with guns?"

"They don't have guns here Murdoc." Russel said bluntly, "They wouldn't have a clue of what we are talking about."

"Oh Green World?" Noodle peeped out.

"Kind of a depressing first number, don't you think Noodle?" Murdoc asked with a raised eyebrow. "But maybe…."

"Re-Hash?" Russel jumped in.

"It won't make a big enough splash for a first number." Noodle replied.

"Er… How about we do Feel Good Inc.?" 2D said meekly, unsure if it would be appropriate to butt into the conversation so unceremoniously. As quiet as he had been, the question had caused all heads in the room to snap towards him.

"Feel Good Inc. eh?" Murdoc asked, rubbing his jaw as he thought it over for a second. "That's… that's actually not a bad idea."

"I agree with Mudz." Russel stated, "I think Dell will be happy to help."

"Dell?" Naruto asked immediately, "Who's Dell?"

"Oh, well he is Russel's dead friend." 2D said matter-of-factly.

Naruto and Jiraiya blinked once in confusion. Dead? How could a _dead_ Person help them?

"How?" Jiraiya and Naruto asked simultaneously.

"He lives in his head." 2D said with out much regard, as if it was the most common thing in the world. An statement that only made Naruto and Jiraiya look at each other with raised eyebrow.

"That's not possible." Jiraiya said bluntly.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that if I were you." Murdoc said, an impish smile playing upon his lips. "With us, anything is possible."

For some reason, the way Murdoc said it and the way the rest of the band seemed to easily and yet wordlessly agree with him, caused Jiraiya and Naruto to believe those words as if it was a rock solid fact.

"…Except becoming God." 2D supplied.

"As much as Murdoc would wish it was otherwise." Noodle finished for him.

"Ah, bugger off you two!" Murdoc grumbled.

"And we could show them 19-2000, and some of those new ones that have been working on, you know. I think _Stylo_, _Melancholy Hill_, and _Rhynestone Eyes_, would be a good follow up." 2D said as he returned to the matter at hand.

"Yeah!" Noodle agreed, "And we can do _El Ma__ñana_ and _Every Planet We reach is Dead_."

"And _Re-Hash_ and_ 5/4._" Russel added.

"Alright, enough gibberish and nonsense." Murdoc said, ending the conversation before they got completely side tracked. "We'll do this then. First well do _Feel Good Inc.,_ Then, we'll do Stylo, after that we do El Mañana, we follow that up with Melancholy Hill and then we finish it off with 5/4. Sounds good?" Receiving a nod from each of the band members, Murdoc grunted in satisfaction and began the count down. "Ready? One," -Murdoc turned on his amp, as did Noodle and Russel and 2D- "Two," –Murdoc and the rest set the volume to 8 (the max is 10)—"Three," –Murdoc lifted his strumming hand as did Noodle, Russel lifted his hands above his head, and 2D sat down on a chair with his head casted downwards as he grabbed hold of his megaphone—"GO!"

And the show began.

**BAM! Chapter Done. Sorry if it wasn't as eventful as everyone wanted it to be, but I think it came out alright didn't it?**

**Sweet! Alright, so PLEASE **_**READ AND **__**REVIEW**_

**Freedragon, logging out!**


	4. Chapter 4

**HELLO WORLD! It's been a long time, hasn't it? Well guess what? I'M BAAAAAAAAACCCKKKK! *Dramatic music!* Yes my dear ladies and Gentlemen, the Dragon has returned (to tell the story mind you. Not to eat you and destroy the village.)**

SO! I don't want keep you from the story very long, so I'll make this brief: Thank you to you all that are reading! Especially those of you who reviewed, it is much appreciated. Additionally, for those of you who also read my story "Awake Again",

_**THE POLL IS STILL UP!**_** So far, I have several people pushing for lemons for that story and not one person has opposed. If you want to vote for or against lemons for that story, leave a review for one of the chapters stating your position, or send me a message.**

**Now, ONWARDS WITH THE STORY!**

Chapter 4

Naruto and Jiraiya didn't really know what expect from the foursome they found in the forest in terms of people, and they certainly didn't have a clue what to expect from their music. The very idea of "Styles" of music, as the band members had put it, was very foreign to them. Sure, they understood that there was fast music and slow music, happy music and sad music, and that there were differences on the music depending on who sang or played the instrument. However, that was the extent of their knowledge. There wasn't even half-a-handful of ways music could be played as far as they knew.

So it was understandable on their curiosity towards the things that the band members referred to as "instruments" and "styles". Particularly due to the oddity of the instruments and the notion of there being enough ways to go about making music that it could be divided into several "Styles". Even the names of the songs the Band members of Gorillaz were using sounded alien to them, some of them sounding rather morbid, like when they mentioned _Every Planet We Reach Is Dead_, or completely senseless, like when they mentioned _5/4_. Truth be told, they were expecting things to be rather boring and simple, like most of the music they had heard in their lives. Still out of Politeness to their new friends, they decided to pay close attention, at least at first, to their music, but not really expecting much.

They didn't stand a chance.

As soon as Murdoc had given the band the signal, the room exploded into an exquisite symphony like no other either of the Leaf Shinobi had ever heard. It literally made them slump backwards into their seats, their eyes wide in surprise and building excitement. The music reverberated through their lungs, flowing through their veins, and capturing their complete attention. It was fresh, it was inspiring, it had energy, it had soul, it was enthralling. It was _life._ By the end of the first song, Jiraiya and Naruto were already sworn devotees of the band.

The band played only five of their songs, but it had been enough. Five songs of theirs had gripped the hearts of the two shinobi, not a particularly easy thing to do to a ninja, especially with someone like Jiraiya, who despite being a pervert always knew how to separate his heart from battle. And the Gorillaz had done it with out even trying.

After the five songs were done, Gorillaz proceeded to demonstrate a few other styles of music. They played them a few popular songs they happened to know from different styles of Music. A bit of Blues, a song of Jazz, a tune of Classical piano, a melody of Soul, a ballad of Country, jingle of Punk, and track of Rock. A total of twelve songs were played that night. From where the Gorillaz came from, twelve songs was not much really. A single record usually would have twelve or more song in it, amounting to perhaps an hour or two of music at most.

However, for the two shinobi who had never even considered the idea of there being more than one style of music, these twelve songs were a real eye opener. In a single hour-and-a-half the Band members had broadened the expanses of their musical perspective by ten-fold.

Not to mention that they almost fainted when Dell showed up to perform his bit for a few songs. Jiraiya almost had a heart attack when he saw the ghost.

Needless to say that by the end of the session, Jiraiya and Naruto were leaning forwards on their seats, gripping their thighs with their hands, had eyes wider than dinner plates, and were literally drooling with expressions that were somewhere between surprised and blissful. All considered, it took them a relatively short time to recover from the show. It only took them a full minute after the band had finished playing to regain the ability to move and talk, while the Band members just looked at each other and back at them occasionally.

"I think we broke them." 2D said after about half a minute of silence from the frozen shinobi.

"Maybe we over did it?" Noodle asked uncertainly, agreeing with 2D.

"Nah," Murdoc said with a grin, waving off their comments dismissively, "Give them a few more seconds. Let them bask in our glory." He cackled a bit at his own remark. He always did enjoy basking upon the awe directed at him by other people.

"They should be fine." Russel agreed, "Look, I think I saw the little one twitch."

As if on cue, Naruto regained his bearings in an instant.

"THAT WAS **AWESOME!**" Naruto screamed as he leaped into the air, thrusting his fists into the air high above his head.

"Certainly it was." Jiraiya mumbled as he managed to move his arm wipe his drool off his jaw, "I never thought…I never expected…This is just… Wow." The Sage concluded dumbly.

"Thanks!" 2D smiled brightly, showing off the gap of his top two front teeth.

"Much appreciated." Noodle said with her own smile as she gave a quick bow.

Russel just nodded his head at them politely, a small smile visible in his face, and Murdoc…well, Murdoc just stood there fidgeting with the knobs of his guitar, tightening one of the strings by fractions of a degree until he was satisfied with the tension of the string.

"Who knew there were so many styles of music!" Naruto exclaimed when he finally stopped bouncing with excitement. Truth be told, Jiraiya was also shocked at the diversity of styles of music that he had just witnessed, none of them the same as the other, and certainly not the same as any he had ever heard.

"Prodigious," was all the Jiraiya managed to say, "Simply prodigious."

"HA!" Murdoc snorted, "You haven't seen nothing yet!"

Naruto and Jiraiya turned their heads so quickly towards him that their own necks audibly cracked. Not that the two of them noticed, since the words of the bassist had picked their interests.

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked curiously. What more could there possibly be? They had just spent more than an hour in a demonstration!

Murdoc merely reached into his pocket and lazily pulled a cigarette from the little cigarette box he always kept in his pocket with one hand, while the other hand reached for his other pocket and retrieved a lighter. Taking his time to light the cigarette and taking a deep breath once he had put it in his mouth, he sighed in relief.

"Well," Murdoc said without much care, "I mean just what I said. That's nothing."

Seeing the confusion in the faces of the ninja, Russel decided to clarify for them, since it was obvious that Murdoc wasn't going to provide them with any other sort of explanation.

"What he means is that you've only seen the tip of the iceberg. From where we are from, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of different styles and hundreds of thousands, if not millions upon millions of songs and tunes from these styles. While we have played you a dozen, that isn't even a fraction of a fraction of the amount of songs that we have heard, and when compared to the amount of music that exists in our previous world, its even less than that. Basically, you could spend years upon years hearing just the amount of music that we have back in our world, and you still would probably die before you heard it all, especially considering that more and more songs are recorded every year." Russel concluded with a sagely nod, only to notice that Naruto and Jiraiya were gaping at him as if he had grown another head. Wondering if Dell had come out of his head to play again, Russel quickly turned his head around see if his ghostly friend was around. Finding nothing, Russel returned his white gaze upon the style gaping ninja with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"I think you blew their minds Russ." 2D said with concern.

Eventually the ninja collected themselves enough to not look like retarded puppets, and once they managed to regain mobility of their limbs and they had scooped their jaws off the floor, they managed to address the four friends.

"My friends," Jiraiya began, "You have yourselves a deal. I will gladly look after you all for a while and guarantee that you get training and jobs as shinobi and I will see to it my self that you four get a citizenship for Konoha from the Land of Fire."

"Took you long enough." Murdoc grumbled as he rolled his cancer stick around in his mouth.

"Thank you kindly sir." Russel replied with a pleased smile as he began to dismantle his drum set.

"Thank you Mr. Jiraiya!" Noodle said as she bowed with a smile at Toad Sage.

"Thanks!" 2D replied with his trade mark grin. "Just…er… one thing…."

"What is it?" Jiraiya inquiered.

"Well, I wus just wondering… whats a shinobi? Or this Land of Fire thing you are talking about? Or Konoha? And the Leaf?"

Jiraiya stared at him for second before he realized that that the people in front of him knew as much as about this world as He and Naruto knew about styles of music before their demonstration. He was literally going to have to teach them from scratch everything, and if they were to be believed in regards to not being trained as shinobi, that would include taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat), kenjutsu (combat with weapons), ninjutsu (ninja techniques involving chakra), and allsorts of other stuff, _besides_ the basic political and geographical basics of their woirld.

_-This is going to be a loooooong day…-_ Jiraiya inwardly groaned to himself.

"Alright then. Well, I'll explain when we get back to the hotel, or perhaps tomorrow would be best. Additionally, we will discuss some…_sensitive _information. I wont be able to tell you everything yet, just like you are unable to tell us everything about your world yet, but we'll still have to tell you some of the more _confidential _information. And by confidential I mean that if the information gets out, you all could end up dead or as national criminals." Jiraiya said seriously. Naturally, he had been expecting them to look shocked and bewildered, scared, mad even. Hell, he half expected them to go back to wherever the hell they came from.

But what he didn't expect them to do was to just raise their eyebrows with mild surprise before they collectively said, "Okay." Jiraiya had to resist the involuntary response of his eyes bugging out and his jaw dropping to the floor again.

"You… You are not _Surprised?_" Jiraiya asked in disbelief. "Or Shocked? Scared? _Anything__?_"

"Nope." That had been Noodle who spoke.

"Not really, no." 2D said as he began to pack away his keyboards.

"Not one bit." Murdoc replied as he took a long drag of his death stick before getting to pack his own guitar.

"Not at all." Russel finished as he began unplugging the amplifiers.

"B-But…_Why?"_ Jiraiya barely managed to suppress the outburst before he shouted the question out loud.

"Oh, that?" Murdoc said dismissively, barely sparing a glance over his shoulder. "We are used to all manner of weird and deadly things… Particularly ones that would very much like to have us for dinner while we are still alive and kicking. And we have had a few run ins with some of the… _darker_ people in this world, a few of which resent us. Something like what you just said wont even phase us."

"Hang on, what?" Naruto interrupted before Jiraiya could talk.

"What about what?" Murdoc grumbled as he finished checking that everything about his guitar was perfect.

"What do you mean 'all manner of weird and deadly things'? and why would they want to eat you?"

"Oh, for the love of…. 2D!" Murdoc called him over, "Explain to the moppet what I mean."

"Oh, that? Well, okay." 2D replied before turning over to Naruto, who, now that he stood next to 2D, could appreciate the full height of the singer. Naruto might not have been very tall for his age, but the fact that the man in front of him was almost as tall as him standing on the shoulders of one of his shadow-clones was still somewhat intimidating.

"Well, we've had a number of things chase after us back at KONG…" 2D began as he frowned in recollection of the many creatures that roamed the grounds of their old studio. "We had loads of zombies, some ghosts, a few gargoyles, some imps, and quite a few ghouls now that I think about it… Murdoc also once pissed of a Gorgon, boy was that a mess… we had a few vampires and werewolves too, though a few the werewolves were nice and didn't try to eat us. Er… what else… well, we have had hit men and mercenaries attack us, and a then there was the time that Murdoc banged that Minotaur's sister and he almost got killed too… and then we had a quite a few giant spiders that we had to get rid of….er… What else….?"

"Demons 2D," Noodle giggled as she shouldered her guitar, "You forgot the demons…and the Dragon and Phoenix."

"Oh yeah! Demons! I almost forgot them, and the Dragon and the phoenix! How could I forget the Dragon! He is the reason why the spiders are gone after all. And the Phoenix was the one that help us get that basilisk to stop trying to eat Russel's dissected animals. Thanks Noods!" 2D smiled his signature smile at her.

"Yeah, so, Dragons, phoenixes, and demons." 2D finished confidently as he turned to look at the two ninja only to find them staring in at him with wide eyes. He was afraid for a minute that they had stopped breathing.

"Er….are…are you two alright?" 2D asked hesitantly.

"What…what did you say?" Jiraiya asked just louder than a whisper, but the Blue-haired singer's keen ears aught the question, as did the young female guitarist.

Stealing a glance at each other, 2D ventured to repeat the sentence.

"Er….Phoenix, Dragon, and demons?"

"Demon_S_…. You have dealt with demon_s _as in several?" Naruto asked disbelievingly. _–What do they know? They've dealt with them? How? They are alive? How is it possible to deal with more than one? Impossible! I don't know or care what some of those other creatures are, but could they be related to their success?_ All this thoughts and more were flashing around Naruto's head, as well as Jiraiya's. People that had knowledge on how to deal with demons such as the biuju (the tailed beasts) were few and far in between, but people that had _experience_ dealing with them were even more rare. In particular people whose experience exceeded more than one encounter.

"Just how many times are we talking about?" Jiraiya inquired, "As in, how many separate occasions have you dealt with these…demons?"

"Oh, loads of times." 2D said, more relaxed now that the white-haired man had broken the silence. "I'd say easy a few dozens. Maybe even up in the triple digits now."

As soon as he said Jiraiya and Naruto were taken aback. It was simply not possible in their minds.

_-They are an priceless asset!_- Jiraiya thought as he gawked at the group that stood in front of him. –_The possibilities! The knowledge! It could make dealing with the Akatsuki and Orochimaru so much easier! Not to mention help secure safety for the village if they were to attack! Sealing processes can even be simplified!-_

Jiraiya just couldn't believe how lucky he'd gotten. He had literally just found the proverbial Gold mine. These people were worth their own weight in diamonds _and_ gold! Any of the Elemental Nations would literally bribe, deceive, cheat, _kill,_ and any other sort of method they could think of for that sort of information. It basically made every single one of the four standing in front of him a priceless treasure, even without their additional knowledge of music, technology, fashion, and whatever else they knew.

He _had_ to get them to come and stay in their side, before any of the elemental villages could try anything, or worse, before the Akatsuki and Orochimaru tried anything. The whole future of the Elemental Nations could be changed drastically on whim of these four people, simply due to the fact that they held such powerful information. A single discussion could change the whole course of action of a nation.

_-Oh Lord… I got in my hands five people that will change the world. First Naruto, and now these guys! I don't know if Kami (God) hates me, or loves me. Hopefully they wont be as troublesome as Naruto.-_

"Alright then," Russel interrupted Jiraiya's thoughts, "So, where is this place we are going to stay at? I don't know about you guys, but I definitely could use a good long rest."

"I agree with Russ. That trip really took a lot out of me." 2D said as he stifled a yawn.

"Good idea," Murdoc spoke up, "The side effects are already starting to kick in, so we need to get to bed quick."

"Side effects?" Noodle asked, she was rapidly getting tiered even as she just stood there, but she wanted to know what Murdoc meant. "What side effects?

"Fatigue of course!" Murdoc blurted out as he threw his hands up in the air, "What? Did you think that jumping through bloody _dimensions_ was just going to be completely free of side effects? As you lot might remember, we had to get zapped by that bloody blue and purple lightning so that we could adapt to be like the people around here! That bloody took energy, and seeing as the people closest to us were these two guys," Murdoc pointed over to Naruto and Jiraiya, "Our body has been averaged to have the physical fitness that will fit somewhere in between those two. Not to mention that we had to get information about the regular every-day stuff implanted forcibly into our brain so that we could act relatively normal around here. All that stuff takes a toll in your body, so basically after a while you start getting tiered and exhausted."

"Oh…" Was all that Noodle said, since she was so tiered now. It felt like her legs were going to give out from underneath her. _–I suppose its only natural_- Noodle thought to herself, -_I am the smallest of the four of us so I have the least energy, which means that it will take a bigger toll on me than them._-

"You feeling alright there, luv?" 2D asked with concern, immediately noticing the slight change in tone of voice and posture of the girl.

"Hai, 2D I'm alright." 2Noodle said as she stifled a yawn and wobbled slightly.

Frowning, 2D reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to almost collapse despite the fact the it hadn't been a heavy pat on the back or anything of the sort.

"You must be really tiered." Russel mussed as he shouldered his own bag, "D, why don't cha take carry her, and I'll take your bag for you, eh? I don't want my baby girl falling and tumbling all over the streets like Murdoc when he gets drunk off his ass."

"Hey lard ass! Why don't you…" Murdoc growled, only to receive a glare from the drummer and immediately retreating a step. "You are just pissed cause I had a good time with more ladies than you that night." Murdoc mumbled, earning another, more intense glare, which caused Murdoc to grumble and drop the subject. He didn't want an other punch to the face, the last time Russel had done that, it had broken in four or five places.

"As I was saying," Russel continued, "You should carry her, I'll take care of the instruments."

"Is that alright with you Noodle?" 2D asked, earning him a tiered nod from the purple-haired girl, at which point he just turned his back to her and she proceeded to climb on to his back. Once she had settled her head over his shoulder and 2D had grabbed hold of her legs around his waist to support her, Noodle let out a happy sigh and fell a sleep almost immediately, the smell of gentle smell of Butterscotch that emanated from 2D lulling her in to a pleasant sleep.

"Alright, you two, lead the way." Murdoc said two the two ninja, and the six people left the room and headed over to the hotel were they would spend the night.

**FINALLY DONE! Whew, I didn't think I would finish before the finals were over, but I decided that, since its December, a little early gift would be fine right?  
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**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! Thank you all for reading, and feel free to take a look at my other story.**

**This is Freedragon, signing out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Back from the flames and maces the dragon returns in bright blazes! Heya all! Guess who's back from vacation! That's right, **_**I **_**am! I hope you all had a great time during Christmas and new years too.**

**Alright! So first,**

_**A big thanks to all those who reviewed! , Particularly Thanks to **_Gracamol **Who reviewed thoroughly. The reviews are very much appreciated.  
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**So! Who's ready for a new chapter? Ready? Set. Go!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<br>**

Midnight, a time of rest and peaceful slumber for everyone. Naruto and Jiraiya slept soundly in their room, as did Murdoc and Russel two doors down the hall from them. In the room between the two previously mentioned, even Noodle slept like a baby in her own bed. However, the same could not be said for her roommate. 2D tossed and turned in his restless sleep, his dreams invaded by shadowy figures that seemed to dig away at his soul.

In a barren land with crimson skies nine great black shadows with eyes whispered amongst themselves as they argued, questioned, and growled at each other. Each shadow large enough to dwarf a man to no larger than a large insect, a single eye of any of them almost as large as 2D was tall. One of the shadows looked like gigantic monkey, its four tails twitching restlessly behind him, an other looked like an eight-tailed bull of terrifying proportions, a different one resembled a massive cat with two tails, and yet an other seemed to resemble a massive fox or coyote with nine tails, yet an other seemed to resemble a turtle with three tails, and to the right of it, some kind of odd mix of a horse and a dog with five tails, and to the right of the odd shadow, some sort of armored bug-like creature with seven tails seemed to stir and argue with the shadow pertaining to the six tails, and a large slug-like creature with six tails conversed with the turtle-shadow to its right. The last of the shadows seemed like the shadow of some sort of panda or dog with only one tail, though it was arguably the loudest and most talkative of the voices.

All of the shadows stood before a confused yet terrified 2D, who had no wish to be only a fifty meters away from the group of massive beasts before him. He could feel an aura of power around all of them, particularly thick around the fox, the bull, and armored bug shadows. He tried to take a step back only for the five-tailed one to catch sight of him, instantly turning his head to face him. Soon, almost instantly, all eyes were on him.

And silence reigned absolute for an instant.

"**A human…? A human, A human, A human!**" A second later the shadows began whispering amongst themselves, the two words spreading like a wildfire amongst the creatures, which after a moment seemed to lean in towards him slowly and menacingly as if he was the prey of the monstrous shadows.

And that terrified him to the very marrow of his bones. He tried to move, he tried to run really, but his legs refused to budge despite his mental orders to them. 2D couldn't help to think that this was a terrible time for insubordination.

On e of the largest shadows, the fox-like one, took a step forwards, covering the fifty meters with ease, and brought his massive house-sized head to the ground, right in front of 2D, its nose no farther away from him than an arm-length or two, and angling it slightly to get a better view of the poor singer, who got a very good view of the fox's massive red eyes with slit-oval pupils. The beast pierced him with its glare that would make any man quiver. Those eyes would be able to pin down entire armies with the intensity of their glare.

"**What did you do?"** The massive fox finally growled out in a deep gravely voice, and a tone that promised a world of pain if he answered incorrectly.

"I-I-I nothing!" 2 squeaked out. It was a wonder that he could even talk at all right a way with such a monster facing him.

However, that mattered little to the fox, who roared out in obvious anger, showing 2D a row of teeth that seemed as sharp as knives, and as long as his whole hand and forearm.

"**Lies!"** It roared, before leveling his eyesight to 2D's as much as it could. **"None of us came here by choice, and, even though its just our shadows, none of us could release us from our jailors and containers simultaneously and bring us to this place as we are at the moment. You better think and answer carefully. What. Did. You. Do?"**

The red eyes of the beast came bearing down on him and 2D could feel himself begging to quake again under the powerful and piercing gaze that the massive shadow-fox possessed. It didn't help that all other eight shadows were also staring at him with varying degrees of hostility.

"I-I-I don't know!" 2D finally stammered out, "I didn't do a thing, I swear! I don't even know you all!"

The growl of anger that had began when 2D had said "I don't know" abruptly stopped when 2D finished the rest of his statement. A person who didn't know about the tailed beasts, otherwise known as the infamous Biju? Impossible. Yet, none of the Tailed Beasts could sense anything other than honesty and fear from the man being interrogated before them. Their curiosity awakened, the beasts began to examine 2D with carefully for the first time.

He was an odd man in their opinion. Tall, slender but with a decent enough build, pale in complexion, blue-hair, high cheekbones, quite handsome by human standards, eyes that seemed to be spheres of absolute darkness, unlike any they'd ever seen before –which considering their age was quite something-. However, what really caught their attention was his neck, or rather, what he wore around his neck.; A necklace composed of a simple black rope which wrapped around and tied its self to the base of a magnificent, white, three inch, curved, and slightly serrated tooth, which hanged freely from the thin black rope.

However, the beasts quickly recognized it for more than an accessory and saw it for what it truly was.

"**How did you get that?"** The fox demanded, some of its anger replaced by curiosity, but not enough for the blue-haired singer to feel safe from the creature. Never the less, said singer felt that he should answer.

" Um….What?" 2D blinked.

"**The tooth that hangs from your neck, you babbling sack of meat! The tooth of the Bright Scales! How did you get?"** The Kuubi snapped at him.

"What tooth? I have no scaly tooth." 2D asked in confusion.

"**Oh really?"** The fox asked mockingly, **"Then what is **_**that**_** hanging around your neck?"**

2D instantly looked down at his own chest, only to find the fearsome white tooth much to his surprise. Even at first glance a fool could tell that it belonged to some fearsome predator. 2D shuddered to think what sort of beast would have rows of more teeth like it.

"**Answer us." **A shadow that looked like a panda demanded.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, 2D opted for answering as politely as he could.

"I uh… I really have no clue what's going on Mr. Panda Bear, sir."

As soon as the words left his mouth, all the shadows, save for the panda looking one, erupted in laughter, though for his life, 2D couldn't figure out why. However, he didn't stay confused for long, seeing as the Panda shadow beast leapt towards him with a roar, causing the singer to yelp and fall on his behind as the ground shook with the impact the beast caused when it landed to the side of the fox shadow who was still laughing.

"**I'm a **_**RACOON-DOG,**_** you maggot!" **The panda-racoon-dog thing shadow snarled as the laughter of the other shadows began to die down.

"**Oh man, that was great."** The bull/ox shadow chuckled.

"**I think I rather like this one."** The two-tailed shadow cat said in a singsong voice, which, despite the strength of it, 2D recognized as a female voice.

The one-tailed raccoon-dog narrowed his eyes at 2D and began to lift its paw, readying himself to squash the singer into paste for humiliating him in front of the other eight beasts.

"**Stop it Shukaku."** The fox interjected, causing the massive raccoon to stop his paw, now high above 2D's head, from coming down and turning to look at the fox who looked back at him in turn. **"We don't know if killing the human has repercussions. For all we know, if he is indeed the one that brought us here, or if he is the key for this place, killing him could be bad for us."** The fox turned his massive head away from Shukaku slightly to give an slightly amused side glance at the now confused blue-haired singer. **"Besides, I'm starting to like the amusing human a little bit too."**

Shukaku seemed to consider the words of the fox, however he maintained his paw up in the air for a while longer, as if debating in his head his course of action.

"**You better listen to him Shukaku."** A deep threatening voice spoke up from behind 2D, causing all heads to turn around to look at the source of the new voice, save for 2D who had to turn around onto his stomach to take a glance at the figure.

Before him stood yet an other large shadow, as big as the fox and bull beasts, which towered over all other shadows by half a head -which translates to several tens of feet, perhaps even over a hundred, but from 2D's angle he couldn't really tell-. The fox stood to his full height to address the new shadow, and Shikaku slowly lowered his paw back to his side before retreating back to the other eight shadows, all the while keeping an eye on the fox and the new figure.

2D took in the new shadow beast with a mixture of awe, wonder and thankfulness, the last of the mentioned due in no small part to the fact that said shadow saved him from being squashed into a bloody paste. 2D found himself thinking that the new shadow resembled a mix between a lizard, an eagle or some other similar bird, and a bull, with traces of several other animals.

The powerful and yet lean and elongated body resembled a cross between a bull and a greyhound, long fearsome horns and lean but powerfully built legs were reminiscent of a bull, the head of the beast was lean but powerful, like the head of Sailfin dragon lizard with the snout a bit more powerfully built, a pair of flap like ears sat to the side of the head bellow the horns, folded on its back was a pair of massive feathered wings, a row of spaced spikes ran down its neck and stopping only a few meters above the shoulder, only to start up again running down the length of its tail, while his gargantuan clawed hand-like paws and one massive tail and spear-like tail tip, seemed to be reptilian.

One look was all it took for 2D to know instinctively what the shadow was.

"A Dragon…" 2D muttered to himself in wonder.

"**It has been a long time Kurama." **The dragon said casually.

"**That it has, Ventus, that it has." **The nine-tailed fox replied, **"I assume, then, that you are the reason we are all here?"**

"**You assume correctly old friend. You see, thanks to my new… partner here," **the dragon motioned to 2D, **"I am back, thus my kin too, since he has kindly transported me back along with the tooth of the Bright Scales back to this realm. I have say, three an a half centuries of world-hopping is more than enough for now."**

"**I bet it was."** The two-tailed cat remarked.

"**Ventus, you must find some time to tell us and our containers about your adventures one of these days." **The eigh-tailed bull/ox ventured.

"**Containers you say?"** Ventus asked curiously.

"**Yes, containers."** The four-tailed ape sighed, **"The humans invented a way to seal us within special humans. Quite ingenious really, but hardly pleasant at first, but you get used to it I suppose. Though you do get to see some interesting things from time to time."**

"**You don't say."** Ventus quipped, quite interested in the subject.

"**Yes, yes I do say Ventus. Though the only one here to have reached a perfect symbiotic relationship with their container has been cow-head here." **The ape beast said pointing with his thumb at the eight-tailed beast.

"**Hey, its not my fault you are stuck with that boring, hard-ass container of yours, Son." ** The eight-tailed beast shot back at Son.** "What is he, like thirty? And he **_**still**_** gets nervous around women. You need to shape him up Son."**

The Ox beast seemed to have hit a nerve on Son, since he bristled up slightly, but the ape chose to continue with his dialogue as if he hadn't heard the eight-tailed beast. **"Shukaku, on the other hand, is the worst of us since he constantly tries to attack his own containers mind every time his container tries to get a wink worth of sleep, in order to gain control over his container. But he has started to get much better about it now, he even lets the boy sleep after Kurama's container beat him in his full release form without even using a single tail out of Kurama, hell he didn't even summon Kurama's shroud of Chakra!" ** The four-tailed ape chuckled, **"As I understand it, Shukaku has taken to even helping his container on rare occasion since he discovered that fighting your own container like he has been doing up to now only weakens him as much as he weakens the container, and perhaps even more."**

"**Next time, I'm getting my container to wipe the floor with that guy until his scalp bleeds and his bones fracture." **Shukaku muttered.

"**And Kurama is right in the middle."** Son continued, **"He still doesn't trust his container all that much… or humans in general for that matter, so he often argues with his container, but they have some kind of respect for one an other I think."**

"**Enough Son." **The Kyuubi fox growled, **"Keep your thoughts to your self for now." ** Seeing that the ape clamed his mouth shut, if somewhat indignant at the him, the fox turned to face Ventus again. **"So, Ventus, what about you?"**

"**Well… surprisingly enough, you could say that I am in the same boat as you and your brothers and sisters, Kurama." **Ventus admitted, earning him some confused and questioning looks from everyone present.

"**Oh? Care to explain?"** Kurama asked with curiosity.

"**It simply means that there is a price for traveling across dimensions for three and a half centuries." ** Ventus snorted, **"Well, you see, about half a century ago I jumped across from one world to an other world to the which this man belongs to."** Ventus gestured towards 2D with a massive claw. **"However, I misjudged the distance the All Mighty One had set between the two worlds and I found my self being transported forcibly through at least six, probably seven, other worlds at hyper speed in order to reach my destination. As you all know, world-jumping takes quite a bit of energy, and doing it six or seven times in a row requires a lot of energy, particularly for someone of my size. So by the time I arrived to my destination, I was pretty exhausted for about a decade or so, which I used to heal and figure out how I was going to get back home without ending up in a comma for an indefinite number of years.**

**Finally I found a way to bypass the ridiculous amount of energy to world-jump that I require, which was actually fairly simple. In order to make it require less energy I had to bind my self to a small life form so that I could travel within it and only need to pay up a small energy fee compared to that of what that energy fee would be if I was in my regular body. Thus I found my self a layer in the place that the inhabiting humans of that world came to know as 'KONG Studios' due to some… **_**beneficial**_** features, and from there I spent the next three decades dedicating my self to finding a suitable container. Soon I found out that certain criteria were required to make a suitable container for the technique required. For one thing, it couldn't be too small, nor could it be soul-less, or bellow a certain level of sentience. This criteria eventually led me to the conclusion that a human was the best container for my plan, however, from there I had to find the most perfect human to be my container. Finally, I had a second list of criteria dictating several key points, such as age and gender, that described the ideal container. And wouldn't you know it, almost as soon as I had found all the criteria and requirements, the perfect container brought himself to me about five or six years ago along with three other humans. Namely this perfect human container you all see present here with us, Stuart Pot, or as he is more popularly known, 2D."**

Ventus stopped for a moment to allow all present to absorb his words before continuing.

"**Unfortunately they left for some odd reason or an other for a few years, before I was able to some how engage my would-be container. Fortunately I managed to mark him by placing the tooth you see on him now on him, concealing it until it was required. As it turned out, I had no need to mark him back then, since he returned less than half a year ago with the other three humans, but still it was a happy accident, since it prepared his body better for being my container by accident. By the time they had returned I had everything ready, and all that was left was the agreement and it would be done. The opportunity presented its self sooner than I expected. My container found himself surrounded by some of the most foul and unholy creatures that I have had the displeasure of meeting, and… Actually, you know, it might be better if I showed you."**

Ventus turned his head towards 2D, who met his gaze questioningly for a moment before the dragon spoke.

"**Remember."**

And then the world seemed to fall out beneath everyone's feet.

-/-/-

_2D was starting on his way back up the last hill that led to the KONG Mansion, his car loaded up to the brim with groceries for him and his band members. It was enough to last them a couple of months, which was the idea, considering the amount of things that could occur at KONG, it never hurt to be prepared for a disaster or two or a dozen. The band-members had learned the hard way that zombies seldom took breaks when they decided to try to take siege of KONG, and ghouls were not exactly pushovers either. 2D still shuddered slightly when he remembered the first time they had been unwilling placed under house arrest by a horde of zombies. Not a particularly pleasant memory, particularly when the bass player tries eat the guitarist in a crazed moment and you have to intervene. 2D had discovered that the man bit like a bulldog without intending too, but in the end no one got eaten._

_2D was snapped back from his memories when his car suddenly began a sputtering and coughing before its engine stalled and finally died out. 2D looked at his watch, and then he looked out the window._

_-_Great.- _He thought bitterly,_ -10:30 PM, I have seventy pounds of food that I gotta carry up hill, and its dark and cold and raining outside. And to top it off, I am only at the base of the hill to KONG Mansion and the gates are even further behind me. Not to mention that the zombies are out and about right now…I hate my life sometimes.-

_2D tried to start the car several more times before giving up wit a sigh and putting the breaks on the car. _–Well, the groceries are going to have to wait until tomorrow… Murdoc wont be happy about that.- _2D thought with a sigh, already imagining the earful and bruises he would be receiving from the green man._

_He leaned back on his car seat for a moment. He knew he couldn't turn back now, it would take longer to reach the gates than to reach the mansion. At this point, his best bet was taking a bag or two groceries, and start walking before the dead began to wonder close to his vehicle. Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his temples with his hand before he finally straightened out and began to search the car for a flashlight. _

_The band members had learned to always carry flashlights in their vehicles, just in case. In a particular moment of brilliance, 2D had once tapped a flashlight to the center of a crowbar along its length, which might sound like a stupid idea, but it freed a hand for combating zombies, and it helped blind the ones who still had working eyes, and it meant that it would be harder to lose since you would have to also drop your weapon in order to lose it. The usefulness of said crowbar was hardly deniable, so much so that even Murdoc had admitted to its usefulness. Now all the cars and vans owned by the band had at least one of these crowbars in their trunks or under their chair, in case of emergencies._

_Soon he stepped out of the car with the hybrid crowbar and large bag of groceries in the other. Pulling up his light jacket to increase whatever little protection it provided him from the elements of nature, 2D flipped on the flashlight in the crowbar and began to climb the hill, unaware of the massive pair of reptilian eyes that watched him from the far-off distance._

_Ventus, for his part, kept watch on the singer as he planned out how to approach him and get him to agree to become his container. With out the agreement, the technique could become highly unstable and that was something that he certainly had no wish to occur, particularly since the repercussions could set back his return for years, if not decades, or in the worst case scenario, centuries. That was something he could not allow to happen. What would they say if the great Ventus failed something like this due to a simple error that he had foreseen? No, that would definitely not do. He would get it right, it had to be perfect, and nothing else would do for the great holy sage of the Dragons._

_A yelp from a distance caught by his sensitive hearing brought Ventus back from his musings, causing him to refocus on his soon-to-be container. Immediately Ventus noticed that his quarry was surrounded by six re-animated corpses in varying states of decay, while five other bodies of the foul littered the floor, their skulls cracked open or missing altogether and some with several other crushed limbs that stuck out at odd angles. While Ventus found it mildly impressive for the man to be able to dispatch the abominations so easily, he noted that he was tiring, and while he guessed that the singer would be able to escape the six, now five, unholy creatures, he would not be able to survive the other dozens that were making their way towards him._

_Making a split of second decision, Ventus launched him self in to the air, and set off towards his would-be container._

_Mean while, 2D struggled to keep back the rotting abominations. He had finished off nine, but the last two, being lest rotted and fragmented, were some what faster than the other seven, which scarcely moved faster than an old man which a bad case of arthritis. And not for the first time, 2D thanked the heavens that the creatures were so slow and clumsy._

_Yet, he was aware of the approaching horde of the monstrosities around him. He knew that soon all his escape routes would be caught off and he would be forced to try to carve his way across the mob of dozens, now nearing the hundreds in number. It was a terrifying thought. Additionally, he was tiring from swinging the crowbar so many times to avoid getting caught, bit, or other wise harmed by the creatures, and it was beginning to show. It was quickly approaching a worst-case scenario for the singer, and he wasn't to eager to let it reach that point._

_Swiftly bringing down the crowbar on the cranium of one of the beasts which had decided to take a head-first lunge at him, 2D fell yet an other of the foes, living him with only one, which he deftly dispatched by bringing the crowbar diagonally upwards from the head of his last victim and hitting the temple of the other beast with a satisfying crunch, splattering brain bits and chunks of bone along with decaying blood all over the place, mucking up his already dirty clothes with more blood and gore. _

"_Good thing it's raining." 2D idly mumbled as he quickly swiveled around to look at his surroundings. Much to his dismay, the horde of zombies was finishing closing up a circle around him. "I'm so fucked…" He groaned out._

_However he wasn't given the luxury of mopping about for too long, as the ravenous mob of re-animated corpses began to slowly close up on him. Considering his options quickly and with a clarity only achieved by the extreme threat of a painful and horrible death, 2D recalled a strategy he once had seen a pack of wolfs use when they surrounded a very large prey in the Animal Planet channel. The wolves had surrounded the beast, and attacked by attacking swiftly when the beast's attention was diverted, and then retreating back to the security provided by their circle of death._

_Quickly deciding that wolves were probably better hunters than him, 2D used an adapted version of the strategy used by the canine predators. Zombies weren't very fast, smart or functional for that matter. Most if not all their senses were very deteriorated, with the notable exception of hearing, which only deteriorated slightly from when they were living, and the fact that they crowded themselves tightly to each other reduced their mobility even more than they already had due to their rotting, so the risk of getting injured by them when he lashed out at them was low enough for the plan to actually work._

_It was a simple plan really; Rush a zombie or two, crack their skulls, jump back to the safety of the center of the circle of death, and repeat._

_2D rushed a pair of zombies in front of him, covering the distance in five quick steps and bashing their heads in before leaping back the center of the circle to avoid the other zombies. Quickly he repeated the process with the zombies to his left, then to the ones behind him, and so on. He managed to end a good dozen and incapacitate three more by breaking their necks with his improvised tactic, but the strain of such rapid and consecutive attacks was taking its toll on him. His arms was already feeling were burning with exertion, and his feet fell like lead. Even though the zombies moved slower than a turtle, they were already only two arm-lengths away from him and he was on the verge of been over run._

_Too tiered to keep swinging the heavy crowbar properly, but unwilling to give up yet, he swung the crowbar clumsily at the zombie before him, unwittingly overreaching himself and loosing his balance for a moment as the crowbar shattered and destroyed half of the skull of the zombie. Quickly turning his head in panic as he attempted to regain his balance, 2D came face to face with a one eyed zombie that was in one of the more advanced states of decay, half of its face already rotted to the bone and the other half was not that far behind. The reanimated corpse lunged headfirst to wards him with its mouth gaping wide, intent on tearing at the singer with the few sharp yellow incisors that remained in its maw._

_And at that instant, time seemed to slow to the point that it seemed that it was frozen, and the sound of the rain and moans of the unholy dead were muted as quickly as strong gust of wind snuffs out the light of a candle. Confused but grateful, 2D attempted to move, only to find that his body was frozen too, however he had no time to dwell on it as the world took a dim blue tinge and a deep, rumbling voice cut into his thoughts._

"_**Do you wish for Power?"**_

_Confused, 2D tried wildly to move and find the source of the voice, but his body refused to obey his wishes, as if caught in the grip of some unseen force._

"_**Answer me, boy! Do you wish for power? Do you wish to survive? Do you wish to live?"**_

_2D, sensing the veil of power that the voice contained and the lack of maliciousness, found that he could only bring himself to answer._

-Yes.- _2D thought, an odd sense of firmness and certainty creeping into his mind, making it sound almost calm and collected._

"_**Even if that means binding yourself to an other being for the rest of your existence?"**_

_-_Are you a demon?.-_ 2D replied with the same tone as before._

"_**No. And neither do I ask for your soul."**_

-Then yes, I do.- _2D thought_

"_**Then so it shall be."**__ The voice said, and 2D felt as if something had been sealed beyond his control._

"_**From this day forth, you and I are bound as partners, until the end of existence."**_

_Without warning, a wicked looking serrated tooth, suspended on a black rope, materialized it's self, from seemingly nowhere, around 2D's neck like a necklace and it began to heat up rapidly. Soon the tooth was burning his neck and chest, were the necklace touched his body, burning through his clothing and his flesh._

_2D wanted to scream for a moment, but his voice refused to work for him. And as suddenly as it had all began, the tooth dematerialized again, and his burns began to knit themselves back together leaving no trace of the burns that had just been inflicted on him. 2D was given no time to wonder what had just occurred as he began to notice that time was slowly beginning to start up again, speeding up to snail speed, and a silvery white aura began to seep out from within him, shimmering and swirling around him as it extended to every part of his body, wrapping him in a mantle of silvery white._

_And then, all at once, time seemed to start up at full speed again, and the zombie sailed through the air at its original speed towards 2D's neck, when faster than the eye could follow, a shadow set its self above them and a torrent of white and blue and silver flames washed over the battle ground, brighter and hotter than any flame that the singer had ever witnessed before. A ragging inferno of a thousand bone fires couldn't have come close the heat and brightness produced by the mysterious flames._

_For a moment the torrent of fire sustained the blazing inferno, before stopping abruptly. As if by the will of a greater force, all the flames dispersed, revealing piles of ashes in a circular formation around the curled up body of 2D, the remains of the silver white aura that surrounded him now dissipating in the air into nothingness. 2D, feeling the pressure of the flames vanished, ventured to open his blurry eyes slightly, dulling noting the piles of ashes and that not a single blade of grass had been so much as even singed by the blast of the mighty flames, before he felt his strength begin to leave him._

_Blinking, he saw a blurry shadow of massive proportions landed gracefully before him, shaking the ground slightly with the force of the impact. 2D lifted his head to look up at the creature. And the last thing he remembered was looking into a massive pair of eyes of molten silver, and a voice._

"_**Sleep. And remember me not. You will be safe from those monstrosities. Soon we'll meet again. Soon…"**_

_And 2D gave himself up to a sudden desire to sleep._

_Ten minutes later, he awoke, disoriented and inexplicably tiered and sore. Wondering why he was sleeping on the middle of the road, and why did he smell burning and ashes when it was raining so heavily, he sat up rubbed his eyes. Catching sight of his crow bar and a bag of groceries, he recalled that he had been walking up to the Mansion because the car broke. And then… and then what? He couldn't remember._

-I probably fell and hit my head or something, and passed out.-_ He thought idly. He had heard that it could happen, and he wasn't the most coordinated people around, so falling in a wet, slippery road wasn't impossible. Yeah, that had to be it. He fell and passed out. _

_Ignoring the fact that it would take much more than a fall to make him pass out from blunt trauma due to his amazing ability to take large amounts of damage and survive without much threat to his own life was pretty close to impossible, he picked up his customized crowbar and the bag of groceries and began to make his way back to the Mansion again._

-\-\-

2D blinked twice as the illusion vanished and memories finished rushing back to him. Though the mirage did help explain a few things, it only arose more questions than it answered. What did the shadow, whom he now understood was Ventus, mean that they would be partners? What has this partnership? What did it all mean? All these and a hundred more questions swirled around in his brain so fast that it was dizzying.

"**Never a dull moment with you, is it, Ventus?"** The two-tailed cat beast asked, amusement clearly marking her voice.

"**What were **_**those**_** disgusting things?" **The six-tailed shadow asked in its raspy voice in obvious distaste. The question was followed by rumbles of approval at the question from the other beasts, who also would have enjoyed an explanation.

"**Ah, those foul things?" **Ventus commented, **"The humans from that world have a name for it… what was it again?" **The shadow dragon asked as he turned his head to look at 2D.

Realizing that he was been called upon to answer a question after a moment, 2D spoke up.

"Zombies. They are called Zombies. Nasty little rotting things they are." He said with distaste.

"**Yes, thank you."** Ventus quipped, **"That's the word! Zombies."**

"**Yes, but what **_**are**_** they?" **the six-tailed slug insisted.

"They are corpses." 2D spoke up before Ventus could answer, "They are reanimated dead people. There are several types of them, but the ones we have at KONG are the worst of them all. Usually there is two kinds, the raised from the dead zombie, and the disease zombie. If you are bit by a zombie raised by a necromancer, you wont become a zombie since it's not a disease but these zombies are trapped souls inside a rotting body, only able to free themselves once their summoner releases them, or you 'kill' them, or their bodies turn to dust. The disease zombie, on the other hand, attacks you to contaminate you with a disease that turns you into a zombie after it kills you, but your soul is free from that bond to move on and will die the same way as the other kind o zombies, unless you kill them by destroying their brains. But the zombies at KONG are a mixture of both of them. They are trapped souls that, if they bite you and insert some of their body fluids in your bloodstream, like blood or saliva, your body dies, but your soul is also trapped in your body until it dies one way, or another. The only two factors that are beneficial about the zombies at KONG are that they can't survive outside KONG and that they can only come out at night."

A flurry of angry words and growls followed the singer's words. Words like "Blasphemous," "Impossible," Sacrilege," "Disgusting," and "Evil" jumped from mouth to mouth amongst the beasts for a while, before the Kyuubi, otherwise known as Kurama, turned to 2D.

"**How is this possible? Those creatures break not one, but several rules that should never be broken!"**

"Sorcery. Witchcraft." 2D replied grimly, "Black magic of the most evil and grotesque form. Around KONG we have many creatures that are unnatural, like werewolves, vampires, imps, ghouls, gargoyles, and hell-hounds, but the worst of them are the zombies. I think Murdoc mentioned once that KONG was a paranormal energy ultra hot spot, or something. We tried to find out more about all the creatures, and we found that the whole area that is now KONG has been historically used by magic users of all backgrounds. Even some that have made deals with the devil himself. Which is probably why there was a hellhole gate included in the mansion. We think that at some point, a sorcerer or witch or something like it, or a group of them, did something that cause the area to be cursed so that the zombies appeared. We don't know how, why, or when, but that's our best guess."

More mutters followed 2D's answer. Sorcery was an art that had died ages ago in their world, and thus the mention of it was very unexpected. Many of the beasts recalled some of the monstrosities, as well as some of the blessings, that were create by magic centuries ago by mages and magic users. The Biju might have been called, perhaps somewhat inaccurately, demons, but some of the humans that they had seen over the centuries definitely deserved the accursed tittle much more than they did.

"**You've found yourself quite an interesting partner, Ventus." **The shadow nine-tailed fox said to Ventus once the muttering had died down a bit.

"**Same could be said about yours, Kurama"** Ventus said with a deep rumble in his chest, which 2D figured was his version of a chuckle.

"**He is not my partner!"** Kurama snapped, before allowing an almost imperceptible smile to creep into his face, **"But yes, yes he is."**

Without warning the ground began rumble to shake under their feet for a minute before settling down, and golden cracks began to appear in the crimson sky.

"**Looks like its time to go."** Ventus observed absently, **"See you guys around."**

"**Until we meet again." **Kurama managed to say before all nine of the Biju disappeared.

"What's going on!" 2D asked loudly at no one in particular, as the cracks began to spread and widen across the sky and the ground continued to shake violently.

Ventus merely turned his head to look at him and said, **"You are waking up. Or rather, you are being woken up. And by the looks of it, whoever is trying to wake you up is trying to do it very vigorously."**

The cracks began burst forward in a jerky fashion, and faint echo of several voices calling out to 2D began to be heard across the barren field, were he was trying to steady himself and the gigantic shadow of Ventus sat as if unaffected by the violent earthquake.

"**We'll meet again soon enough boy."**

And with that, the world crumbled, giving away into a bright white light.

Seconds later 2D slowly began to open his eyes, and was greeted by the visage of a very distraught looking Noodle, along with a frowning Russel's face and a worried Naruto hovering higher above his head and Noodle's. He could distinctly hear Jiraiya and Murdoc talking or arguing in the background, probably discussing something about him, 2D supposed.

"He is awake!" Noodle cried out jubilantly with relief as soon as his eyes opened. A shuffle of feet was heard and soon Jiraiya and Murdoc came into 2D's field of view, both eying him curiously.

2D blinked at all of them.

"Um… Morning?"

"Morning Blue!" Naruto replied with a grin.

"2D-kun, are you alright?" Noodle asked, gabbing his head by the cheeks and turning it one way and another, checking for any signs of anything wrong with him before he had a chance to answer.

"Yeh, I'm ookay." 2D said with some difficulty as Noodle still had hold of his head, "Hey, luv… You arrre digging your knees inchoo my stomach… and I wanna sit."

Noodle blinked before grinning sheepishly and crawling to over to sit by his side as he sat up. 2D sat up cross-legged against the backrest of his bed and shook his head quickly to regain a bit more feeling in his cheeks before turning focusing back on everyone in the room.

He began to take in the people in the room and their night wears. Naruto with his frog-print pajamas and cap, Jiraiya with a pair of sweat pants and a simple shirt, Noodle with her a set of old purple shorts and 2D's old "Pink bunny says: Shot to ill" shirt, Russel wearing an old pair of sweatpants and a blue shirt, while Murdoc with his classical leopard print underwear and, surprisingly, a plain old white shirt. 2D figured Russel forced him to wear one since he was his roommate. Why Murdoc insisted on sleeping with only a pair of y-front underwear instead of shorts and a sleeveless shirt like he did was a mystery to 2D. Normally one would sleep with _something_ that covered one more than just that in case an emergency occurred and they had to evacuate, right?

"-ache…I said, Oi! Face-ache!" Murdoc repeated loudly, snapping 2D out of his train of thought.

"Hm?"

"What was that all about?" Murdoc grumbled.

"What was what?"

"What do you mean what was what? What happened!" Murdoc asked in an irritated voice.

"Murdoc, chill man." Russel intervened, before turning to face 2D, "D, you was screaming for a while man, we found you thrashing in your bed by the time we arrived. Baby girl here says that you were thrashing around even before you started screaming." Russel said as he nodded over to Noodle, who had somehow sat down cross-legged in the cavity created between 2D's own legs with out him noticing.

2D looked down at Noodle, who sensing the shifting in her in her make-shift chair looked up at him and confirmed the statement.

"Hai, 2D-kun, you woke my up when you pushed your bag of the end of your bed with a kick or something, and I woke up to find you thrashing around. I didn't even have time to wonder what was going on before you screamed like you were being burned a live. You really scared me with that. I thought something was seriously wrong." Noodle concluded, shadow of worry flickering behind her emerald eyes as she said it, which escaped everyone but 2D. It was one of the many advantages of having a spiritual Zen-bond with some one, namely that you were able to discern things about the person you share the bond with, which would scape virtually everyone else, by just looking at them.

Nodding in understanding, 2D turned back to face the other people in room, while Noodle turned back to the others and rested her back on his chest, allowing him to scratch her head absent mindedly. It was something that 2D had done with Noodle since back when they first met, she would sit on his lap and he would absent mindedly scratch, pet, or brush her hair with his fingers as they would read a story or watch a movie –which were, more often than not, either zombie flicks or fantasy cartoon films-.

It was, in a way, a reassuring gesture that only the two of them shared, and had been also employed during times were either or both of them were stressed, finding that their odd little ritual was very soothing. Last time Murdoc had tried to pet Noodle's hair she had retaliated with by instinctively throwing him over her shoulder, much to his, and her, surprise and the amusement of 2D and Russel. She apologized fervently as soon as she realized her action, of course, but never again had either Russel or Murdoc ever attempted to touch her hair without her permission. Apparently that was a privilege reserved for 2D only.

Jiraiya, for his part, who had pulled out a notebook and a pen from who knows where as soon as he saw Noodle climbing up onto 2D's lap and had proceeded to writing feverishly, closed his notebook with a small clapping sound and turned to address 2D with a bit of a grin, at which Naruto rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded like 'hentai'.

"Are you sure you are fine?"

"Yeah, you seemed pretty upset, 2D." Naruto added, "It wasn't until near the end that you stopped thrashing around like a crazy person."

"Well…" 2D said, dragging out the word for a second and allowing his free hand to travel towards the side of his neck, were he felt a small itch. He idly thought about it as he began to scratch his neck with his forefinger, earning him a small feeling of satisfaction at scratching his itch spot, before looking back up.

"Well you know I…Um… guys? What is it?" 2D asked curiously as he saw the eyes of Murdoc and Russel open so wide that they resembled more two pairs of plates rather than two pairs of eyes. Noodle, Naruto, and Jiraiya fallowed the gaze of the two stunned men, which leaded to 2D's neck, were his hand had pulled down his shirt a bit to better scratch the slight itch.

Wondering what they were looking at, 2D tried to look at his neck with a very limited amount of success. "What?" he finally asked again.

Wordlessly Noodle jumped off his lap onto the floor and grabbed on to his right hand while Naruto grabbed his other hand. Between the two of them, they half dragged, half guided the blue hair singer to the washroom, followed closely by the other three men. As soon as they reached the washroom the teenagers sat him down on a simple wooden bench in front of the washroom's full body mirror, and Noodle yanked his shirt off in one smooth, fluid motion while Naruto turned on the lights. No body noticed the that the Toad Sage had once more pulled out his notepad and pen and began to scribble down on it quickly before putting it away again.

As soon as the bright lights came on, 2D squinted for a second while his eyes got used to the light, before he fully opened his eyes and looked at Noodle and Naruto who were standing beside him.

"What?" he asked incredulously.

Both teenagers simply pointed at mirror and then at his neck. Taking the hint, 2D rolled his eyes, slightly annoyed that they wouldn't just _tell_ him rather than dragging him to the washroom, but followed their wordless instructions nonetheless. Turning to look at himself in the mirror, 2D looked at his own neck to find whatever it was that had elicited such reaction from his companions. And as soon as he looked at his reflection, his jaw dropped.

Around the whole base of his whole neck, were the neck and the shoulders and the back met, three interlocking rows of very finely crafted scales were tattooed on to his skin in semicircle, which continued to curve downwards slightly, following in line with the collarbones and dropping into a shallow, but sharply defined, "V" point were the left and right side of the tattoo met. It was a very fine tattoo, all three rows of interlocking scales, together, were no thicker than half an inch, and the scales were so well made that they seemed to be actual scales that belonged to a living and breathing reptile, rather than a tattoo. And were the point of the external layer of scales the very tip of the "V" point, if one squinted and focused really hard, a very faint outline of a three-inch long, curved, and serrated fang was visible with its wicked tip facing downwards, and the base of it touching the point created by the necklace of scales.

2D stared dumbly at the tattoo in sheer confusion and fascination. The thing had not been there a few hours ago, he was sure of it. And yet there it was, perfectly crafted as if he had been born with it. He absent-mindedly touched it gingerly, finding that the skin seemed to feel…tougher, but at the same time, it was somewhat more sensitive to touch.

"That's what." Noodle spoke up finally.

"No kidding…" 2D answered as he continued to examine the odd tattoos.

"Are you sure you are okay kid?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah. I think so… it feels a bit funny though."

"Funny how?" Murdoc inquired as he yawned.

"It feels… tougher. But it also feels more sensitive to touch at the same time."

"I've never seen anything like it." Jiraiya commented.

"I assure you, neither have we." Russel added thoughtfully. "And we have seen a lot of odd things."

"I guess…" 2D began to say thoughtfully, "I guess that I should tell you all something."

And so 2D began to retell them of his dream in all the glory and detail that he could muster, which was quite a lot, since as an elite professional artist, details were his forte.

* * *

><p><strong>WHAAO! A CHAPTER IN TWO DAYS! I am proud of my self. And Its one of my best ones too (at least in my opinion anyways). So, that's it for today my friends. Please leave a review with any thoughts or ideas and let me know what you thought of the chapter, any input is very highly appreciated. This is freedragon, logging out. Chao!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello WORLD! Guess who is back right now? Yeah, its me! The Dragon is Back! And I bring a new chapter for you in tow! So, First I wanna say I am really sorry about my lack of updates, but university is being a bitch, so I only have short spans of time during which I can write. Sigh~ Sad face. BUT! Now I have brought you salvation from boredom (I hope), for a while at least. So I hope you are ready you lot!  
><strong>

**Lets spin my web of fantasy! **

**Chapter 6**

The sun had just risen above the horizon line, and the first rays up sunlight found Jiraiya already awake, sitting on a disk and scribbling on a piece of paper, looking deep in thought. Though if one looked a little closer, one might have been able to see the little smile that painted his face. He was currently in the process of writing a letter to his former teammate and current leader of Konoha, Tsunade, about the events that had occurred in the last twenty-four hours. It was his duty as a ninja of Konoha, and as Naruto's guardian, to report to Tsunade important developments that might affect Konoha and Naruto, and the four band members he had found definitely qualified as an important development.

However, he was not going to include everything in the letter. The message could always be intercepted and used for a variety of things that would be detrimental either Konoha or Naruto, or both. Though if he was being honest with himself, part of the reason why he refused to give her all the details is that he just positively _loved_ to surprise and mess with Tsunade, and he knew that having an incomplete report would bother her for _ages_, and then he would get to surprise her with his discovery in a few years. He giggled at the thought of Tsunade's frustration at not knowing the whole story, and the best of all is that she couldn't force him to comeback! Hell, she couldn't even reply, because technically they were off the radar, and no one, not even the Hokage of their home village, knew were they were.

Gleefully he finished writing the message in a chakra-seal activated code meant only to be opened by Tsunade, and quickly placed an extra waterproofing seal on it before beginning to make the seals for summoning a messenger toad. In a flash he finished the seals and slammed his hand down on the floor, bringing forth the small cloud of white smoke that signified a successful summon. It didn't take long for the smoke to dissipate and reveal a green and blue toad with sunglasses that was about as large as a medium sized dog.

"Yo!" The toad said as he saluted Jiraiya, "What up Jiraiya? Gamvan, reporting for duty."

"Good to see you Gamvan," Jiraiya greeted the toad, "I have a job for you right now."

The toad snorted at him. "You don't say?" The toad said sarcastically, "I thought you summoned me to have milk and cookies and then take me to a movie."

"Oh zip it." Jiraiya said rolling his eyes. Gamvan was probably the best messenger toad there was when you had to deliver small things, like envelopes or small packages, but he a thing for sarcasm that could make him irritating at times.

"Fine, fine." Gamvan said flippantly, "What do you need me too do anyways?"

"I need you to deliver this message to Tsunade." Jiraiya said as he handed an small envelope to the toad, "It really important, so make sure it gets there."

"Oh? Secret stuff, eh?" The toad said with a grin, " Alright, I'll make sure it gets there."

"Good. Thank you Gamava." Jiraiya said with a smile, "There is a river about half a mile from here that connects to one of the major rivers that flow near Konoha. I'm sure you can find your way, right?

"Ha!" Gamavan exclaimed, "I can sense my way there with my eyes closed. Don't even worry about it Jiraiya. I should be able to get it there by the day after tomorrow at the latest."

As soon as he said that, Gamvan hopped out the window, the message already sealed in a pouch the he had singed from his shoulder to his hip, heading towards the river at a pretty fast hoping speed.

Jiraiya watched as the toad got further away for a while, and the further the toad went, the larger his former tinny smile grew, until the grin grew into a full blown smile. He had to keep himself from laughing when he imagined the tantrum that Tsunade would throw when she read it.

_-"Ahhh…. I love my life."-_ Jiraiya thought to himself happily, and an amused giggle escaped him as he turned around, only to find Naruto rising from his bed with very messy hair and looking at him curiously for a second.

"What?" Jiraiya asked after a few seconds of silence, his grin still plastered on his face.

"Hmmm…. Just thinking." Naruto said as he yawned and stretched his arms. 

"Really now? That's a rare occurrence." Jiraiya said jokingly, earning him a side glance from the still somewhat groggy Naruto. "What was this thought you were having?"

"Well, you know, its weird to wake up and see you grinning like that first thing in the morning… It made me realize something. You _do_ have other qualities other than being a pervert too." Naruto said offhandedly as he stood up from his bed.

"Oh really? And what would that be?" Jiraiya asked, now genuinely interested, as Naruto changed into his clothes, "Did my charming smile make you realize how super awesome and suave I am? Maybe now you are more interested of knowing the super rare secrets of picking up girls that I have gathered over the years?"

"Not quite." Naruto said as he finished dressing.

"Did my smile enchant you and make you realize that I am a mighty man that deserves your respect?" Jiraiya asked almost hopefully.

"Nope. I Just realized you are not just a super pervert. You are a goddamn creepy super pervert." Naruto said with a mischievous smile, before he bolted for the door of the apartment.

"You damn gaki!"Jiraiya fumed as he bolted after Naruto, "I'll show you creepy!"

"Its true and you know it!" Naruto screamed back at him gleefully as he bolted down the corridor, "Who smiles like that to kid first thing in the morning? Fack! You creepy, old perverted frog man!"

"Gaki! I am going to~!" 

SLAM!

"Stop that racket!" Screamed a very groggy and pissed-off looking Murdoc, in his sleeping wear, which consisted of only a set of underwear and brown socks. He had kicked the door open as hard as he could, slamming it open, and was now standing in the archway of the room of his hotel room, his hand still pressed against the door while he leaned on it tiredly.

He flicked his eyes down the hallway, scanning for the possible source of the commotion that had irritatingly loud enough to wake him. His eyes soon found Naruto looking at him in a mixture of amusement and confusion.

"What are you screaming about, brat?" Murdoc growled out at him with clear irritation.

"The perverted Sage was chasing after me…" Naruto snickered, " But thanks to you, I guess I don't have to worry about it."

"What do yah' mean by 'thanks to me', eh?" Murdoc growled out, "I haven't done a thing for yah, brat. In fact, I am pretty damn sure I would let Frog Man give you a couple of god taps on the head with his knuckles for screaming like a Banshee right now."

Naruto only smiled widely at Murdoc and pointed at the door. "Check behind that."

Grumbling at Naruto's lack of explanation, but curious about the meaning of his words, Murdoc considered Naruto's proposition. Well… the door, for some reason, was only opening about half way, so that it was sticking out at a ninety-degree angle from the wall… Maybe he _should_ the other side of the door. It was opening just fine yesterday, and he really didn't want to pay for the door.

He swung the door close half way, and stretched his neck to look behind it, only to find a very flat-faced Jiraiya that seemed to be frozen in time for a second, before he fell over backwards. Murdoc cold only blink at the old ninja for a second while he processed what he had just seen.

"Hmm. you know what…?" Murdoc began to say slowly, "I am going to slowly back up back into my room… and ah… go and tune my bass guitar… and just um…. You didn't see anything. Got it?" Murdoc concluded, nailing Naruto with an evil glare that would have had even Orochimaru feeling a bit shaken. "Capish?"

"Uh, yeah…" Naruto stammered, "Capish. Got it…Sir."

"Good." And with that, Murdoc began to sneak back into his room, and just before the door closed behind him, Naruto saw Murdoc's mismatched eyes peek through the small gap between the wall and the door. "And don't call me 'sir.' Ever."

SLAM!

Naruto sighed when the door closed again. That guy was creepy with a capital C. He was creepier than Orochimaru in a way… Not in a Creepy-Albino-Pedophile-Child-Rapist-With-A-Misguided-Fashion-Sense way like Orochimaru was… No body could beat Orochimaru in that field, as far as Naruto was concerned (but if there was, he never wanted to meet them), but that Murdoc fellow was creepy in a different way. It was creepy like he could pierce you with his glare until you felt like he was almost literally stabbing you with his eyes, which was very creepy in its own regard.

Heaving a small sigh, Naruto shook his head before starching his arms up towards the ceiling and smiling widely. It seemed that today was going to be a good day.

_Fast forward: 5 days from letter sent- Konoha, Village of the Hidden Leaf._

Mornings in Konoha were usually relatively quiet, and most noise that could be heard was usually produced from the walking of people going about their busyness and merchants talking business with their costumers. It was almost eerily quite since Naruto had left actually. Even though Many of the villagers were exceptionally happy to be rid of their village demon container and get some peace and quiet, after a few days the lack of excitement and noise that had been produced almost daily by said demon container was somewhat disappointing and even a bit upsetting, though hardly anyone would openly admit that to anyone of course.

"THAT PERVERTED OLD TOAD!" The voice of the Hokage rang out over the village, startling quite a few people, and, surprisingly, brining about a few sigh's of relief along with a couple of smiles. It was good to have a little bit of a disturbance from time to time.

Tsunade, on the other hand, was not feeling as refreshed as some of the villagers were. The day had been just fine until Gamavan had arrived hopping through the window to deliver to her a letter sent by the old Toad Sage, and then her day was turned upside down.

At first she had been somewhat surprised by this, seeing as she had expected the communication between the Toad Sage and his apprentice to have been practically severed with the rest of the world until they returned to Konoha from their three-year undercover tour of the Elemental Nations. In fact, if he was risking sending a message then something crucial or important must have occurred.

Which was the reason why she froze for a moment, suspecting some horrible news that could be written in Jiraiya's letter. In an instant, a dozen possible ideas of catastrophic events that could have occurred to the pair of traveling ninja flashed through her mind, each scenario worse and more unlikely than the last. But then again, where Naruto and Jiraiya were concerned, virtually anything was possible.

Quickly regaining her motor movement, Tsunade crossed the room to where the large toad sat with the letter in a few long strides, already making plans for tracking them don and sending a support group on their way to assist them. Seconds later she had already thanked the toad as it poofed away back to its world while she finished unfurling the little scroll after having dispelled the seal that coded the letter. She certainly did not loose any time in reading its contents.

_To Tsunade._

_Hey there Princess! How are you doing? The Brat and I have been fine, so you can relax, we don't want you to be running around with those large assets of yours too much, you might fall on someone and accidentally smother them to death. Hahaha. _

Tsunade was instantly comforted and pissed off by the introductory sentence. However, it was her duty to read, however, she was free to plot a suitable punishment for when the perverted sage returned. 

_Anyways, jokes aside, I got news for you Tsunade, and quite interesting ones I might add. Of course, they would have to be important for me to even contact you once while we are away. But right now is the best time to send the message according to our location and the fact that our enemies have gone underground for the time being. Naturally I cant tell you where we are, for safety reasons, so you will just have to take my word for it. That said, let me get down to the main points here. First, I know you want to know about Naruto, so I will only say that he is doing well in his training and that he is as hyperactive as ever. Second, I have gathered some potential recruits for Konoha. I will be training them along with Naruto. They can be good for our village, and I have given them my word that you would give them a chance. I leave all the paper work for the four candidates in your hands, oh great lady Tsunade. I know how much you love paper work. ;)_

_Love,_

_Jiraiya, the Mighty Toad Sage_

Tsunade was already skeptical and disapproving of the whole _andidate_ business as soon as Jiraiya had mentioned it in his letter, but it was nice to know that Naruto was doing well. However, as soon as Jiraiya mentioned the paper work, she blew her top. Which was the reason for her massive scream, in which she referred to Jiraiya as a "perverted old Toad". That said, on the bright side, she had two and a half years to come up with a proper punishment for the Toad Sage for piling up the applications for not one but FOUR unknown ninja into Konoha. Transferring and hiring a single, unknown, unregistered, and foreign ninja into the working service was a pretty large stack of papers, a stack that usually added up to at the very east two hundred pages of paperwork. But since she was looking at not just onepotential ninja, but a party of four then she was probably looking at around a stack of one thousand pages of paper.

Needless to say, Tsunade was not pleased.

_-Jiraiya, I shall have your pay for this…_ - Tsunade thought to herself grimly as she looked out her window. She would certainly make use of the two and a half years before Jiraiya returned and think up of something good. Giving a wicked grin at nobody in particular, she allowed her self a final thought on the matter.

–_You better train them good Jiraiya, because your balls are on the line.-_

"ACHOO!"

"Bless you." Noodle replied.

"Hey, perv Sage! You aren't catching a cold or anything are you?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Brr… No, I don't think so. I just suddenly got a chill down my spine... I don't think its anything I need to worry about." Jiraiya replied.

Things had been really odd at first between the band member's and their ninja companions, mostly because of the oddities on both sides of the team. However, after the first three days things began to run more smoothly, particularly when Murdoc and Jiraiya discovered each other peeking into a woman's bathhouse. Since then, the two perverts had learned to get along quite well, and often went together to what they called "Bird Hunting," which really was just an other way to say that they were going to see if they could get any girls and get the to have a what they defined as a "good time" with them, not to mention they where frequent partners in crime when it came to peeking at women.

Naruto had discovered that he enjoyed the company of Russel, who while he seemed intimidating at first, he was definitely of superior in intelligence and strength. The man was calm most of the time, but he appreciated a few of his pranks, and he even helped put the perverted Sage and loopy-eyed Murdoc in their place when they crossed the line too much. Russel also find himself enjoying the company of not just Naruto, but of the Toad Sage as well, finding the art of sealing very interesting and one could often hear them chatting about it.

Noodle and 2D were left to their own devices for a good portion of their free time, choosing to stick together for their training while Russel talked with Naruto and Jiraiya and Murdoc left to do whatever their horny brains led them to do. However, they found themselves often in the company of Naruto during a good portion of their free time as well, with him feeling them in on some of his history and battles and tips for their training in exchange for a few singing lessons and even a few lessons on the guitar from time to time.

Naruto was positively impressed by the skill of all the band members, but he was particularly interested in 2D's amazing voice range and power and Noodle's ability to play the guitar like she was born with it. It had become a new hobby for him in a way, aside from practicing his jutsu day in and day out, he would sometimes just enjoy listening to the singer and guitarist and join his voice with theirs when he could. Mind you, he was way's away from being able to match them, but they didn't seem to mind.

Though Naruto didn't feel too bad about not being on par with them. In his mind, if the Music world had ninja rankings, then 2D and Noodle would be the greatest rankings of them all, even higher than the Hokages of the time. He supposed that they would be on the level of the Sage of the Six Paths, or that of the first Hokage of Konoha and Madara and his father. Really, they were stupendous. And he supposed that Russel and Murdoc were just half a notch bellow them, still easily Kage-level, but of course he would never tell that to Murdoc's face, lest he summoned the wrath of the loopy-eyed and volcano-tempered green man.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, had taken a liking to learning to playing the drums from Russel. He would have liked to learn a bit of bass guitar too, but Murdoc wasn't too keen on letting _anyone_ touch his bass guitar more than what was strictly necessary. However, he had promised that if he got his own guitar then he would consider teaching him. That, however, would not happen until at least two years and a half time, when they would return to Konoha.

Aside from their breaks, the band members and Naruto usually spent a good ten to twelve hours of the day either being trained by Jiraiya or traveling by foot around the countryside, or both. The training was at times so intense that even Murdoc didn't have the energy to complain by the end of the day, which was an unexpected bonus for everyone.

Unfortunately, today wasn't one of those days.

"Bleeding Holy Hell!" Murdoc complained loudly, "The soles of my feet hurt feel like they have been set on fire and then grinded by a couple of goblins with a rocks!"

"Shut yo' trap Mudz." Russel grumbled as he walked up from behind him, "All you do is complain man. What you gonna do when you have to go on missions bouncing from tree to tree for days, huh? I bet cha that's going to be almost as bad as this."

"Oh, can it lard-ass." Murdoc snapped back at him, "When that happens I will probably be too damn busy to realize it, but right now, I'm not busy, so I _can_ complain, so I _will_ complain!"

A chuckle from up-ahead made Murdoc and Russel turn their heads to see a chuckling Jiraiya look at them over his shoulder.

"What you looking at, frog face?" Murdoc grumbled at him.

"Oh nothing," He said with a smile, "I was just thinking how badly you'd get along with Tsunade if this is all it takes to get you wound up. She hates whiny men."

"Tsunade? Who's that?" Murdoc asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The Hokage." Noodle piped up.

"Yeah, the Hokage of Konoha." 2D supported her, nodding his head sagely as if it was a most important piece of wisdom (and technically, it was).

"How do you know that?" Murdoc asked with annoyance. He hated being left out in the dark, and the fact that even 2D knew just irritated him more.

"Naruto has been telling us a bunch of stories. Some of them included her." Noodle responded offhandedly.

"Yup." 2D and Naruto echoed together.

"Really now?" Murdoc said slowly, mauling the thought of the Hokage being a female. Somehow, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. A woman being the strongest ninja in a whole village… Some how he thought it a bit odd.

"Ugh, she must be a real monster, that woman." Murdoc said out loud without meaning to, causing Jiraiya to burst out laughing and Naruto to start snickering at him.

"What now?" Murdoc snapped at them.

"Oh nothing," Jiraiya said after he had calmed down enough to talk, "Its just that you'd be surprised."

"What? Is she like a gorilla or something?" Murdoc asked skeptically.

"Not even close Bass-man" Naruto said with a wide grin.

"The brat is right Murdoc, she is quite the opposite." Jiraiya said with a smile as his mind started to recall her, "She is got curves like you wouldn't believe, a blond silky hair that reaches up to her waist, and a pair of melons that any man, or even many women, would kill for!"

By this point Jiraiya was drooling at his own memories, a small trickle of blood running from his left nostril down his face. Surprisingly, Murdoc was not much better off. In fact, the only difference between their facial expressions was that Murdoc didn't have blood running down from his nose.

"And you say she hates overly whiny men?" Murdoc asked as he tried to picture the blond beauty in his mind.

"Yeah…" Jiraiya said lazily, his mind still floating around the curves that belonged to the blond haired Hokage of Konoha.

"_And_ weak men, pervy sage. She also hates wimpy men." Naruto added. 

"Well what are you waiting for you bunch of sea-swine? Lets get moving!" Murdoc said loudly and energetically, suddenly spinning around to face Naruto and the rest of the band members, "We got training and walking to do. The faster we move, the sooner we get back to the blond bombshell- I mean, to the beautiful Konoha!"

"That's right!" Jiraiya cheered, and he put his arm around Murdoc's shoulder and Murdoc put his arm around his, and together they started walking quickly like a pair of drunken bar-buddies walking home. It oddly seemed… suitable for them.

After watching for a couple of seconds with the proverbial sweat-drop falling from their heads, Russel finally spoke up, "We better get moving before that pair leaves us behind."

With a nod, the group shouldered their bags an pressed onwards, fallowing the loud voices of the two older men who had now began to sing old bar-songs as they walked. This was going to be an interesting two and a half years alright.

_Fast-forward: 5 months and 3 weeks. Time left to return to Konoha: 2 years._

Half a year had gone by since the meeting between Gorillaz and Jiraiya and Naruto, a full year since Naruto had embarked on his travel with Jiraiya, a year since the Akatsuki had gone into hiding, a year since he had lost his best friend, and a year since he had left his old pink haired crush behind. Not she was really his crush anymore mind you, he had realized when he had last seen her crying that she had only eyes for Sasuke. Still, that didn't mean that his feelings for her had completely died. He still considered her a very close and precious friend.

He sometimes wondered what things were going in Konoha. How was Sakura doing? And Konahamaru and his gang? And what about Neji and Lee? What about… well… Everybody? What were they doing now? How had they changed? It baffled him how annoying it was not knowing how they were doing sometimes. It was like an annoying itch that would appear randomly and that he couldn't scratch.

"Oi! Naruto!" 2D's voice rang out in his ears, breaking him from his musings.

"The ol' Frog Man says to pack your things, we are moving again soon."

Naruto couldn't help but groan slightly as he dropped down from the tree branch he had being laying on. Since the band members had arrived, Jiraiya had increased the intensity of the training in order to get the band members to become respectable ninja, having to hammer into them all the basics of the Ninja Academy plus their regular training. However, unfortunately for Naruto, Jiraiya had noticed that he was really lacking in the intellectual area of being a ninja, and so he had also become a victim of the extra work regime of training that Jiraiya had created.

For Naruto, the worst thing about it was the fact that he couldn't skip or escape the academy part of the lessons Jiraiya had designed for their Training. The main reasons for that were that Jiraiya was faster than him and that he would notice immediately if Naruto was gone, so Naruto was stuck with actually _learning_ the stuff from the academy.

It was no wonder that he was so uneager to get moving again, it only meant that his break was over than that he would have to go back to hearing Jiraiya's lectures and taking notes on his notepad as he walked.

"Yeah, Yeah." Naruto said as he stretched his arms over his head. "I'll get my stuff 2D-san. Do the others know its time to leave?"

2D nodded with a smile in response. "Yup. You was the one that left the furthest, you know? I was with Noods by the river playing some tunes, and Jiraiya was of with Murdoc and Russel a no more than a hundred meters away."

"How did you find me then?" Naruto asked curiously. Usually Jiraiya used his chakra detecting ability to find him and try to scare him, or he would just simply shout Naruto's name until he came back.

2D just grinned widely, showing off the gap where his two upper front teeth should have been before he replied. "I only had to find the biggest tree in the area."

And with that, he turned on his heel and began to walk back to the location where the others where waiting.

However, the simplicity of the deduction of his location by 2D startled Naruto a bit. Was he really that easy to find? Was he really that predictable that some one as new to the ninja world as 2D could figure it out in the short amount of time they had been traveling together? If so, then perhaps more training wasn't a bad idea. He couldn't be so obvious in a battle, not with the Akatsuki.

_Fast-forward: 3 months. Time left until the return to Konoha: 1 year and 9 months._

"Are you ready my students!" Jiraiya asked enthusiastically to his group of apprentices. The question was received with a excited murmurs from his five students, particularly the four band members of Gorillaz, since this was technically their 'graduation' from the academy's basics.

"Good! Glad to see everyone is nice and awake today, since, as you know, is the graduation of the Gorillaz from the academy's basics!" Jiraiya said with a wide smile.

"So, I hope you are ready my students! We will start with the basic three jutsu. 2D, you can use the Kage Bushin, since you seem to have the same problem that Naruto has due to your… ummmm…. _Resident_."

2D nodded with a smile. He had been disappointed to learn that his chakra control was more or less ruined due to his new… guest , that now resided in him, but on the other hand, he had been pretty pleased to find out that his chakra reserves were on par with Naruto's, which meant that his chakra reserves were more or less at a low Kage level. It had really bothered him at first, since the basic bushin (doppelganger) was quite delicate in terms of chakra control relatively speaking, but on the other hand that meant that he could spam a bunch of intermediate or high level Jutsu for far longer than the great majority of other ninja alive and still feel fine by the end of it.

"Alright then," Jiraiya continued, "We will start with Kawarmi. But first, for a bonus point, who can tell me what kawarmi is?"

Noodle's hand shot up in the air in an instant.

"Yes, Noodle?"

"Kawarmi is basically a quick step replacement that can take place at a relatively short range. To the normal person, its so quick that it resembles teleportation, or summoning, but its really just an instantaneous bust of speed that is covered by a small cloud of smoke, during witch time you replace yourself with a near by object. Its otherwise known as the Substitution Jutsu" Noodle said proudly. And she had good reason too, aside from perhaps Russel; she was the smartest of the band when it came to book smarts.

"Keener." Murdoc grumbled under his breath, earning him a quick dirty look from noodle before Jiraiya spoke up.

"Great! Good job Noodle, that's one bonus point for you." Jiraiya said approvingly. Now lets get down to business. Lets do the Substitution Jutsu. Here are the conditions for you to pass; First, you must switch with something at least ten feet away,. You can switch with whatever you want. There is a log that I have cut out, if you want to be more traditional. Everyone got that?"

There was a general nod of agreement before he continued.

"Good. Now everyone take a few steps back so whoever is doing the replacement technique has lots of room. Yes, that's fine now. Alright then. Murdoc, you are up first."

Murdoc proudly walked forwards to the wide empty space between the students and Jiraiya, it kind of remind Naruto of what a peacock would walk like, but he was smart enough to keep that comment to himself.

"Ready Murdoc?" Jiraiya asked.

"Do you even have to ask?" Murdoc replied, confidence staining every word from his mouth. 

"Right. I guess I should have expected that from you."

"Yeah, you should have." Murdoc cackled.

"Alrigh, alright," Jiraiya said as he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "Just get going."

"With pleasure." Murdoc said with an evil grin. Looked around for a moment before he spotted the old log that Jiraiya had mentioned earlier. It was a good thirteen or fourteen feet away, but, being Murduc, he decided to take three steps back in order to make it a bit more than twenty feet, just so that he could show off a little, something that didn't surprise any of his band mates, but made Jiraiya rise an eyebrow.

A moment later Murdoc was in position and began flashing through the quick set of hand signs. "Substitution Jutsu!"

In an instant Murdoc was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. A second later the smoke cleared out to reveal a log had replaced Murdoc, and Murdoc was standing 20 feet away, where the log was at originally as he pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

"Good job Murdoc." Jiraiya said approvingly. "Definitely a good switch, and you did it with out leaving many traces of you. Well done."

"It comes with our previous job, old man." Murdoc replied, "You had to learn how to get out quietly and quickly, because the fans can get a bit crazy sometimes, yeh?"

"Fair enough. Alright, Russel you are next." Jiraiya called out.

In the end, the scoring for the Replacement Jutsu (Kawarmi) ended up as follows: In first place was Murdoc, with a distance of twenty-one feet; In second place was Noodle, with a distance of eighteen feet; in a close third came Russel with a distance of seventeen-and-a-half feet; and finally, in fourth place, came 2D with a distance of fifteen feet.

"Great!" Jiraiya said approvingly, "You all pass the first test. Now lets try something else How about…. The Henge no Jutsu, eh? Who can tell me what that is?"

This time it was Russel who spoke up almost immediately.

"Basically it's a transformation jutsu. Its sort of like a chakra layer that makes an allusion that makes you look like some one, or something, else." Russel said assertively.

"Excellent!" Jiraiya agreed. "Care to demonstrate 2D?"

"Sure, I can do that for you." 2D replied amiably.

2D stepped up to the center of the clearing somewhat nervously. This was not one of his strong jutsu. He could transform, but it wasn't all that great…. In fact, it wasn't perfect at all.

"Well… here goes nothing!" 2D said to himself, and promptly flashed through the hand signs that were required for the Jutsu. It only took him an instant to finish them, being easily the fastest at making hand sings out of all of Jiraiya's new students, and on par with Naruto's own speed at making hand sings.

"Henge no Jutsu!"

In a small puff of smoke appeared a second Jiraiya…well… sort off… He was a bit fatter than the original, and his hair more messy, his lips were a bit puffy and his nose looked more like a potato than a nose, but aside from that, it looked decent…ish.

"Wha-what the hell…?" Jiraiya whispered with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. "Who is that supposed to be?"

"Are you blind pervy sage? That's obviously you!" Naruto laughed merrily. That was undoubtedly the funniest thing he had seen all month.

"How the hell is that exactly me?" Jiraiya asked in annoyance.

"The body is not far off, but look at the nose! Its _exactly_ the same as yours!" Naruto laughed even harder at his own comment, causing Murdoc to start cackling himself, and Russel and Noodle to smile with amusement too.

"You brat! You are forgetting who is handing out your training, aren't you? Just you wait."

"Aw crap…" That stopped Naruto laughing on his tracks, but only made Murdoc laugh even harder before he could finally settle down.

"Anyways…" Jiraiya said as he turned back to look at the transformed 2D as he puffed back into his original form, "I guess it kind off alright… I don't know if you'll be able to pass with that though, but-!"

"Oh wait!" 2D said quickly, cutting Jiraiya off before he could continue, "Naruto showed me this advanced transformation jutsu, hang on!"

In a flash, 2D finished a second set of hand signs.

"Sexy no Jutsu!"

In an instant, a puff of smoke enveloped 2D, giving everyone just enough time to think '_Did he just say _SEXY_ jutsu?' _ before the smoke cleared. Instead of a mediocre Henge like the last one, in place of 2D stood a tall blue-haired female beauty with perfect body, that sported a small blue set of spandex yoga shorts, and a tight white shirt that showed her midriff and hugged her big breast perfectly. In short, she could have been in the cover of Playboy Weekly or she could have been miss universe. Yes, she looked that good.

Which was why Jiraiya suddenly had a massive nosebleed and gave him two big thumbs up.

"YES! YES, YES, YEEEEESSS!" Jiraiya said with excitement, "You pass alright! You pass with flying colors! Oh my heavens, yes! You get top marks and bonus marks too! Oh dear lord this shall be one of the main characters in my new book! Oh the inspiration!"

While Jiraiya continued to ramble on for a minute or two, 2D released the Jutsu and looked at him oddly for a sec, surprised at his sudden change of demeanor, but pleased by the fact that he passed with top marks on the exam. However, he was surprised to se when he turned back to look at his friends to find that Murdoc passed out on his back with a stupid lecherous grin on his lips, Noodle's face was as red's as a tomato, and that Russel was holding his nose with a white handkerchief that was steadily turning a deep blood red color. Even Naruto was blushing and had a bit of drool on coming from his mouth.

"What?" 2D asked curiously. The simple question seemed to startle them all out of their own little world.

"Wha-? Oh no, nothing D, its alright bro," Russel responded hurriedly, "I just, uh… I hit my self in the nose trying to swat a mosquito so now its bleeding. No biggy."

"Um… 2D" Noodle said kinda shyly, her face starting to return to her natural color, "Where did you meet that woman?"

"Huh? What woman?" 2D asked confusedly.

"The one you just transformed into."

"Oh, that." 2D said dismissively before giving her a heart-melting smile, "I never met her. I just sorta made her up."

"Oh. Okay, Good." Noodle replied with a smile, as Murdoc began to stir from his accidental fainting accident.

"Ow… Bloody hell…What happened?" He said as he began to shake his head and stand up, "Wait a minute… Bloody hell Face-ache! Where the hell did you meet that chick! It sure as hell wasn't any time during our world! IS she near here? Can I talk to her? I would sure like to spend a night with her, if you know what I mean." He winked at 2D and gave a lecherous giggle.

"Umm….. Mudz?" Russel said quickly, "2D never met her. He made her up."

"Huh? Get real Russel. Its face ache we are talking about. He doesn't have enough brain cells to create a whole new person in his brain, much less one that looks that good!"

"Um….Murdoc?" 2D spoke up, "I _did_ make her up. Naruto told me that it's a jutsu were you make a solid illusion of chakra, or one in which you can actually become a different person if you add enough chakra, so it was a good idea to make it yourself so that you were comfortable with it. So I did."

"You mean to tell me….that you actually _made_ that girl in your head?" Murdoc asked in shock.

"Umm…. Yes?" 2D said uncertainly.

"Bloody hell…." Murdoc whispered to himself. "I guess that head of yours is not as empty as I thought it was." And with that, Murdoc turned away from 2D and back to face Jiraiya, who had finally stopped writing like crazy on his notepad.

"Ahem, yes well," Jiraiya continued as if nothing had ever happened, "Noodle, you are next."

In the end of the test, this was their scoring; 2D scored top spot with his persona transformation (he calls "her" Diana), earning a hundred points out of fifty. In second place was Noodle, making a perfect replica of 2D, earning her fifty points out of fifty. In third place was Russel, making a near perfect replica of Naruto, except for his whisker-like face marks, which he made a little too thick, earning him a fourty-eight out of fifty. In last place was Murdoc, who made a good replica of Russel, however his Henge was a bit too thin and the eyes where not completely white as russels, rather they where a very pale grey where the iris should be, making russel look a hell of a lot like a Hyuga, and it earned him a forty out of fifty.

"Brilliant!" Jiraiya said with satisfaction. "On to the last Jutsu test! The Bushin! Or better known as the Shadow clone! Russel, if you could please start us off."

"Of course." Russel replied amiably as he stepped forwards to perform the Jutsu.

Once he was in position, he turned to face jiraiya and flashed through the needed hand sings.

"Bushin Jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke, four more Russel's appeared around the original, all of them perfect copies of him.

"Bravo!" Jiraiya cheered. "You pass with high marks Russel. You are up next Noodle!"

With a nod of her head, Noodle stepped up to the challenge, positioned herself, and did the hand sings as perfectly as possible.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

In a small puff of smoke, five more Noodle's appeared, all perfect replicas of her self.

"Great job Noodle!" Jiraiya said with a smile as she walked back to her friends and got a pat in the head from 2D for doing a good job. "Murdoc! You are up."

"OF course." Murdoc replied with a devious smile.

"Bushin Jutsu!"

To everyone's surprise, 3 more murdoc's appeared in the clearing, however, that was not what was surprising. What surprised everyone was the fact that the three identical replicas of Murdoc were all wearing tuxedos and top-hats. It was quite impressive, and certainly creative.

"Wow, not bad Murdoc." Jiraiya observed, "You definitely pass this one."

"Was there ever any doubt?" Murdoc said cockily.

"I guess not." Jiraiya said with amusement. "Alright 2D, you are up!"

"Sure thing." 2D said with a smile.

"Hang on though." Jiraiya said before he could make any hand signs, "Since you have such a massive amount of chakra, lets change the rules a bit. Instead of having to make a minimum of two shadow clones, how about we make it a minimum of two-hundred? With your chakra reserves even that should be easy."

"You got it!" 2D replied with good cheer. This _was_ his forte, after all.

In hand movement so quick that it was almost a blur, 2D called out, "Kage Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The clearing was filled by a plume of smoke for an instant, before it cleared up as suddenly as it had appeared. When the smoke cleared up completely, a three hundred 2D's could be seen everywhere, on trees, on the ground, sitting down, standing up, or hanging from branches, and all of them perfect replicas of him.

"Excellent!" Jiraiya said with approval, "Now we can all move on to harder material and Jutsu!"

A general cheer from the apprentices was heard, particularly from 2D and Naruto, who, bein the powerhouses of the group when it came to chakra and stamina, were more than eager to learn more jutsu.

"Get ready my students!" Jiraiya said merrily, "The fun begins now."

**AAAAAANnnnddd Cut! Well, that's all I have for today guys… or is it? Well, I have a bit of a summary of what the strengths and weaknesses of each of the team members (Naruto and the Gorillaz band-members) are at the bottom of this little rant, so if anyone wants to check that out, its right at the bottom of this little rant. **

**Second, I am sorry if the chapter is a bit uneventful, but I had to fill in some gaps **before I can start the whole return to Konoha thing. I don't think it would be fair if** I just suddenly said "Oh, now we are three years later and all the Gorillaz and Naruto are mysteriously super powerful! LOL!" no. That doesn't work for me. So I am sorry if the chapter was a bit dry, but I we are almost there! Maybe one more chapter, and then we can start the whole war against the akatsuki and all that jazz! **

**Well, that's it for now, I hope you liked the chapter. PLEASEREVIEW THE CHAPTER! Your input is important!**

**And now, without any further ado, here is the "Report Cards" of The five members of Team Jiraiya up to now. The rankings are, from low to high, E (academy student), D (Gennin), C (Chunin), B (Jounin), A (Elite Jounin and Kage), S (Kage), SS (Legendary). Each letter can be high, low, or intermediate (+, -, [just the letter])**

**- - - - - - {By the way, this are supposed to be written By Jiraiya for himself}- - - - - -**

**Naruto**

Strength: -C; Ninjutsu arsenal average (NAA): C; Speed: C; Book-smarts: -D; Chakra control: -D; Chakra Reserves (without the help of the fox): A; Taijutsu: C; Genjutsu: +E. Stamina: -A; Specialty: Tank and Melee fighter. Good at close range and mid range. Other Notes: Can take a huge lot of punishment and still be alright.

**2D**

Strength: -C; NAA: D; Speed: +C; Book-smarts: -D; Chakra control: -D; Chakra Reserves (without the help of the Dragon): A; Taijutsu: D; Genjutsu: +E. Stamina: -A; Specialty: Tank, and Melee fighter. Good at close range, and mid range. Other Notes: Can take an absurd amount of punishment and still be alright.

**Noodle**

Strength: +D; NAA: -D; Speed: C; Book-smarts: C; Chakra control: C; Chakra Reserves: +D ; Taijutsu: -C; Genjutsu: D. Stamina: +D; Specialty: Generalist and Melee fighter. Seems to be equally Good close range and mid range, however she seems to be able to act as support as well. Other Notes: Very adaptable, and for a little girl she can take quite a beating, but still, she has a limit. Her ability to take punishment is only somewhat above average, its nowhere close to Naruto and 2D's.

**Russel**

Strength: +C; NAA: -D; Speed: +D; Book-smarts: C; Chakra control: +C; Chakra Reserves: C ; Taijutsu: C; Genjutsu: +D. Stamina: C; Specialty: Generalist. Seems to be equally good at acting in direct combat or as a support. Other Notes: Very level headed and he has pretty good chakra control. Perhaps he would do well as a medic or an strategist. I should think on how to help him develop those talents.

**Murdoc**

Strength: -C; NAA: -D; Speed: -C; Book-smarts: -C; Chakra control: -C; Chakra Reserves: -C ; Taijutsu: -C; Genjutsu: D. Stamina: +D; Specialty: Melee fighter and Torture & Inquisition. Seems to be good at close ranges, and he knows how to attack the human mind efficiently. Other Notes: He seems to have a sadistic tendency, and he can be quite effective at attacking the human mind. I bet that he would get along well with Anko and Ibiki. I will recommend him to their department when we reach Konoha.

**And that's all for now. I hope you guys enjoy it! This is Dragon, Logging out.**


	7. Chapter 7

**This is FreeDragon, and I have brought you all the next highly awaited chapter of "Gorillaz of the Hidden Village"! Well my friends, I can honestly say I am pleased by the reviews I got so far, its been a long time since I got that many reviews that quickly, so I decided to rush the production of this chapter for you guys.**

**Anyways, I would like to give thanks to the following people:  
><strong>Onmyo - Keeper of Harmony

Van the Rogue Soul Drinker

Grocamol

AnimaAmore

angel 16

BadOrk11

**THANK YOU GUYS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT! Also, thanks to all other readers that might be reading this but have not reviewed, you are awesome too. **

**SO! This chapter covers the second part of the highlights of whathappened during the three years away from Konoha, and the return of Naruto and his team to Konoha.**

**That said, Lets start the chapter, shall we? CHAAAAARRRRGGEEEEE!**

**Chapter 7**

_Fast forward: 9 months. Time left until return to Konoha: 1 year._

A cloaked Naruto ran jumped from tree to tree side by side with an equally cloaked Murdoc, trying to shake off the pursuing team composed of 2D, Noodle, and Russel, who were to try and intercept them as a form of training while Jiraiya observed from afar. So far, Murdoc and Naruto had the upper hand. Murdoc had managed to set a couple of exploding tags bellow a few branches to detonate after a few seconds, which was sure to distract their pursuers, and Naruto had made three sets of clones to look like him and Murdoc, and scatter about to confuse their trackers.

However, something was odd. Naruto hadn't heard a single foot step behind them since about five minutes ago, and that either meant Naruto and Murdoc were really far ahead of their trackers, or that something was up. Considering the amount of training that he they all had had, he was betting on the later option. Particularly since Russel and Noodle were on the team, and those two could give even Sakura and Hinata a run for their money when it came to brain power.

"Hey Bass-Man." Naruto called out to Murdoc as they leapt from branch to branch, "Something's up."

"I know kid." Murdoc said with a side glance to Naruto before he refocused on his jumping, "But its no like we can do anything about it right now, all we can do is keep moving and keep our senses tuned in to try to pick up any odd sort of sound, smell, vision, or anything else that might give them away. Now keep moving slacker."

No sooner had he finish saying this when Naruto managed to pick up a faint hissing sound close up a head, and before he had even time to wonder what the sound was, the base of the branch in front of them was rocked by an explosion so strong that it left a hole through the side of the branch wide enough for Naruto to stick his whole foot through without any difficulty. Realizing that the branch was no longer able to support them, but unable to use any jutsu in time or doge in mid air, Murdoc and Naruto did the next best thing they could think of. They covered their faces and braced for impact.

Sure enough, no sooner had they touched the branch that it began to tear its self off the tree due to the increase in weight, and soon they were free falling towards the soft forest ground. The two of them managed to land the fall and roll away to absorb the shock of the impact, but they were not given any time to restore their bearings, since before they could even so much as manage to stand up properly, three shadows jumped out of the trees surrounding them, tackling them to the ground holding them down.

"We win." Noodle said with a large toothy grin as she pulled down the dark brown hood of her long trench coat as she sat on Murdocs back while 2D held down his head and arms in a restraining grip.

"Good job everyone." Jiraiya said with a smirk as he dropped down from a tree near by. "Naruto, clever of you to divide their attention with your shadow clones, but you forgot that 2D can make as many as you can, which he did, and confirmed that you where the original one quickly and without trouble once he heard them talk about their 'boss'." Jiraiya said with a smirk, "Murdoc, impressive use of the exploding tags, it certainly took them by surprise a couple of times. However, you should place the timer more carefully, a couple went off _after_ 2D, Noodle, and Russel had already past them." Then he turned to the other team. "2D, excellent use of the Kage Bushin, and good restraining lock on Murdoc. Noodle, excellent stealth skills to be able to place the exploding tag with out Naruto or Murdoc noticing, and Russel excellent steering of Naruto and Murdoc. They didn't even realize you where herding them into a trap until just before the trap was executed, and by then it was too late."

Naruto, Noodle, and 2D beamed at the Jiraiya at his praises while Murdoc and Russel just smiled in proud satisfaction at the old man's acknowledgement. It didn happen too frequently during their field training or field tests, but when it did happen, it was something to be proud of.

"Now lets see how you guys are doing with your jutsu training." Jiraiya said. "Naruto, 2D, you guys are up. I want to see how you guys are doing with your new wind jutsu, individually, and then in synchronization… wait, no… Just the synchronized version is fine. If you can do that then you can do it individually."

"Hai! (Yes!)" Naruto responded along with 2D.

They both rushed to stand at each others side, Naruto standing on the left side and 2D on the right, and quickly began working the five hand seals required to make their Mid-C Rank technique, known as the "Tengoku no ken no Jutsu" (Heavenly Fist Jutsu). In the hands of a competent ninja, the Heavenly Fist was a good technique that dealt damage by smashing the opponent with crushing wind pressure in the form of a fist, while tearing at the enemies skin with its turbulent winds. But in the hands of Chakra monsters such as Naruto or 2D, the Jutsu easily reached B rank. However, two such attacks synchronized…

"Wind Style: Heavenly Fist Jutsu!"

Both Naruto and 2D shouted once they had finished their hand signs, and in an instant several things happened simultaneously. Each of them took one step forwards, Naruto took the step forwards with his right leg and 2D took it with his left leg, so that they were back to back and their faces were facing forwards. Their fists glowed with a turbulent blue chakra, and they each punched their fists in the direction directly ahead of them at the same time. An instant later two massive fist of compressed air, each as large Jiraiya, sped of away from their owners, coiling and twisting around each other in a frightening spiral of death as they rammed into a large oak tree, and shredded its parks it passed through it and slammed into the tree right behind it, causing that tree to collapse as well.

Jiraiya shuddered slightly at the thought of getting hit by an attack like _that_ without any defence. It would definitely leave more than just a little bruise on whoever was unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of that attack with out a defense, that's for sure. Still, he quickly shook his head from such morbid thoughts and smiled genuinely at his two apprentices.

"Great job you guys. That definitely was an almost perfectly synchronized double Heavenly Fist jutsu. Even the average jounin would have to be careful to try and not get caught in the middle of that synchronized technique."

Naruto and 2D seemed pleased with their teamwork and smiled at each other as Jiraiya called up the next student.

"Noodle, come on up," Jiraiya instructed. "Lets see a good 'Mizu no hari jutsu' (Water Needle Jutsu)."

"Hai." Noodle replied with determination, before her hands flashed through the required seals and she called out the techniques name.

"Water style: Water Needle Jutsu!"

In an instant water condensed around her head into ten thin water needles which then shot off towards a tree, and penetrated an inch into its bark before the needles evaporated a few seconds later into the air.

"Good!" Jiraiya said with approval. "Russel, you are up! Lets see an 'Earth Wave Jutsu' eh?"

"Sure thing." Russel said with a grin as he stepped up to the center of the clearing in the forest and began to do his hand seals as quickly and accurately as he could.

"Earth Style: Earth Wave jutsu!"

Russel slammed his palms into the ground, and the earthe rippled around his hands for an instant, just before the earth before him reared up into six foot tall wave of earth, flowing along the land just like a wave of water would flow in the ocean. A second later, the Wave slammed into a tree that was just ten meters away, and it smashed into the tree with enough force to uproot half of the tree.

"Good one Russel." Jiraiya said with satisfaction, "Now Murdoc, lets see you execute a Fire Ball Jutsu."

"Sure." Murdoc said confidently as he stepped up to the clearing, "Watch an learn kiddies." He said to his other team mates, before dropped down into a wide stance and began making his hand seals for the jutsu.

"Fire style: Fire ball jutsu!"

Murdoc brought his hand up to his mouth as if he was going to cough, and he breathed in deeply, before releasing his breath through his slightly open fist. The result was a fireball that was easily eight feet across and carbonized a dead log that had been unlucky enough to be in its path.

"Great!" Jiraiya said with approval. "You all have learned the latest jutsu I have taught you thoroughly, now you should be definitely be able to hold your ground against any chunnin on your own." Jiraiya said with satisfaction. Each of them had learned the big three academy jutsu, plus three additional jutsu that jiraiya had them learn once he figured out his elemental affinities.

Unsurprisingly, Murdoc's elemental affinity was Fire, and Russel was Earth, something that anyone could have guessed from their personalities. Interestingly enough, Noodle was a Water type, while Jiraiya thought that she might have had a lightening affinity, but he had considered the possibility of her being a water type, considering how adept she was at changing according to the situation. However, the one that really surprised him was 2D. As it turned out, 2D had a double affinity, Wind and Lightning. It wasn't that un common to for someone to have to affinities. Actually, it was almost normal for ninja of chunnin rank or above to haveone dominant affinity and one lesser affinity. Naruto, for example. Had a dominant affinity of Wind, and two lesser affinities to Earth and Lightning. However, what _was_ odd was the fact that both affinities showed on the chakra paper in equal proportions. This could only mean that his chakra was evidently perfectly balanced between lightning and Wind chakra, which was _not_ common. It was less than one in a hundred people that had this odd chakra quality, however, it was not something that was unwelcome.

"So!" Jiraiya continued, "Naruto, 2D, you guys come with me, we are doing some chakra control training. The rest of you I want you practicing on your own. Work on whatever you want too work with, but do it well."

And with that, Jiraiya took Naruto and 2D a bit deeper into the forest and began to train them on chakra control.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Three hours after the Naruto, 2D, and Jiraiya had left for their special training an explosion rang out through the forest, and quickly was fallowed by another one. A second latter a massive wave of that consisted of two distinct chakras flew past them and dissipated in an instant. Immediately the other three members of the team rushed towards the direction of the explosions, knowing that that was where their two team members and their teachers were located.

"The hell was that?" Mrdoc shouted as the sprinted towards the location of their teammates.

"I don't know Mudz!" Russel replied loudly a few meters besides Murdo, leaping from to tree branch to tree branch with practiced skill, "But it can't be good!"

Noodle, for her part didn't say a thing as she rushed towards the location. She was completely focused on her task of arriving towards her team members, hoping that they were alright.

'_Dear God, please let them be alright.'_ That was all she could think of as she rushed towards the site of the explosions.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

At the site of the explosion, a large smoldering crater laid out in the ground. The crater was easily a hundred meters in diameter, and was surrounded by a dozen smaller craters, each large enough to fit a basket ball inside them. At the center of the crater, four figures laid passed out on their backs, and at the rim of the large crater, a severely wounded Jiraiya with blood pouring out of three large lacerations across his abdomen.

"Damn it… all." Jiraiya cursed to himself, "Who would have thought… that this would happen…"

At that moment, Noodle, Murdoc, and Russel Burst out of the clearing, and looked around with bewilderment at the scene before them. It was like a massive bomb had been detonated in the clearing. Blackened earth laid scattered across the clearing, and smoldering stumps of trees where a testament to the intensity of the explosion. What ever it was that had happened here, had managed to supper heat the sap of the surrounding trees and made them explode.

"There!" Murdoc exclaimed, and pointed to edge of the clearing where Jiraiya was leaning against a smoldering tree stump. "Quick! Russ, help me out with him, you know more first aid and healing things than any of us, Noodle, you go check on the boys."

Immediately Russel and Murdoc dashed towards Jiraiya's direction, while Noodle sprinted towards the figures laid out in the center of the crater. To her surprise, it wasn't just 2D and Naruto that were passed out in the center of the clearing, A weird looking blue and silver colored lizard with two little horns protruding from its head seemed to be snoring by 2D's head, and a little red fox was passed out on Naruto's stomach. Shaking off her surprise, Noodle ignored the animals and proceeded to check on the vital signs of her teammates.

After a quick check on both of her teammates, Noodle had assessed the situation and determined that, aside from a few bruises and shallow cuts, her teammates had received no damage that was noteworthy, so she stood up carefully so she wouldn't awake them from their slumber, and dashed towards the location were she knew she would find Murdoc and Russel helping out Jiraiya.

Soon Noodle was standing in of Murdoc and Russel as they helped out Jiraiya, watching Russel use a simple medical jutsu that was capable of healing minor things, like bruises and small and medium cuts in an attempt to stop the bleeding from his chest while Murdoc unpacked all their first aid supplies in order to bandage Jiraiya as soon as Russel was done. It was obvious that Russel was doing the best he could with the simple healing jutsu he had learned under Jiraiya, since he was sweating due to the amount of concentration he was putting into his task.

"Jiraiya-sensei," Noodle asked as she watched Jiraiya's face contort slightly in pain while Russel worked on his wounds, "What happened?"

"Their tenants…" Jiraiya croaked out, "I think… I pushed them a bit too… hard. And the fox….and dragon… Partially escaped and altered… their seals."

A shocked silence fallowed his words, only broken by the slight fizzing sound that came from Russels hands, which now glowed with a gentle blue-green light as he worked on his patient.

"You mean…" Murdoc said somewhat nervously, "That those two gigantic monster you told us that where in… _them_ escaped? Was that the reason for the explosion?"

"No…" Jiraiya croaked out a little more clearly than last time. Obvously the healing Jutsu was working, slowly but surely. "Not… escaped completely… If they had, then everything in a five mile radius would have…. Been obliterated. Instead it seems that… Their _seals_ were altered…. I need to take a look at them to be sure but… I think it now allows them to have a physical manifestation of themselves... meaning that they can have…. Their own external bodies for their souls and minds."

A dead silence followed Jiraiya's words, as everyone contemplated the meaning of them. The beasts could now roam the world.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

An hour later Jiraiya was finally all patched up, with bandages covering most of his torso, but he was well enough to walk now, thanks to Russel, who was exhausted after an hour of healing with just a basic healing jutsu, was leaning against a tree and resting up for a minute. He had managed to med a bit of the muscle tissue and stop the bleeding, but that was it. It was fortunate that Jiraiya had such a solid constitution, because most other people, or even shinobi, would have died otherwise.

Mean time, Noodle had dedicated herself to looking after 2D and Naruto, while Murdoc went hunting for something to eat. It was obvious that they weren't moving from this location tonight, so he decided that they should at least have a fresh meal. Hopefully, he would return with a few rabbits or perhaps even some of those tasty ducks they had seen by the river earlier that day.

A groan made Noodle refocus on her charges, and noticed that 2D's eyes were fluttering open, as were the eyes of the odd lizard by he head.

"2D!" Noodle exclaimed happily, as watched 2D slowly awaken, "Russ! Jiraiya! 2D is waking up!" Noodle shouted out to her team members.

"Ow…. Noods," 2D complained as he started propping himself up on his shoulders, "You are loud… My head is ringing… how much did I have to drink Noods?"

"You didn't have anything to drink you goof!" Noodle giggled before she hugged him happily, "You just passed out during training."

"I… I did?" 2D asked with confusion. A second later a pang of pain exploded in his head, and a small storm of segments of memories ran across his mind. Him. Naruto. Red chakra surrounding Naruto, and a Silvery white chakra surrounding him. Tails. Red tails of chakra. And him… he had Horns. He had horns of silver chakra. And a tail, also made of the fiery white and silver chakra. Jiraiya. Jiraiya pushing them to do better. And then… something… clicked in him. And Naruto. An initial explosion, one from Naruto and one from 2D…. The Auras touched…. And then it was blank. He couldn't remember anymore past that. Except for a feeling. A vague feeling that a part of him had extended into something… more.

"Ah!" 2D suddenly collapsed back on to the ground, holding his head with one hand.

"2D!" Noodle exclaimed with concern, "Are you alright 2D?"

"Ye-yeah… I just…. Memories. Memories flashing through my mind."

"Yeah… same here." Naruto's voice suddenly croaked out beside him. "What the heck was that?"

"No clue." 2D muttered back.

He was going to start standing up again when he felt Noodle's hands press down on his chest.

"No." Noodle said firmly, "Both you, and Naruto, need to stay laying down and resting."

"But…" 2D started to complain.

"Don't fight her, kid." A gruff voice told him. "She is right you know, after all that we just went through, you need to rest."

"Who said?" 2D asked with confusion, before the cat sized lizard jumped up on his chest, before Noodle could even ask who he was talking to.

"I did." The lizard said, though only 2D understood it. Everyone else only heard a weird yipping growl from the lizard. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Ventus. I believe we have met once before."

2D could only stare at the lizard for a second before he said, "But I thought you were a dragon."

In response, the lizard merely spread open a set of leathery silver and blue wings, and puffed out a small cloud of smoke from its mouth.

"Satisfied?" The little dragon asked with amusement, before 2D promptly passed out again.

Nearby, Naruto was undergoing a similar experience.

"So you are telling me you are the fearsome nine-tailed fox?" Naruto asked incredulously at the cat-sized fox that was sitting on his chest.

"Yes, brat, for the third time in row, I _am_ the fox that you used to have in your stomach!" The fox replied with slight agitation to Naruto, "As a matter of fact, you _still_ have me trapped n your body. This is just a physical manifestation of me. You still have practically all my power sealed up inside of you. Same goes for that blue haired moron beside you. He still has almost all of Ventus' power sealed up in him."

"How did you get out?" Naruto asked with curiosity, causing the fox to snort at him before replying.

Your little teacher was dumb enough to release you to your four tails level, and along with the blue-haired man to roughly the equivalent of that power. Your bodies are not used to gaining so much power so quickly, let alone handling that much power, so basically your seals rearranged to help you deal with that power."

"Rearranged? Rearranged how?"

"Basically, the seal altered so that there wouldn't necessarily be two consciousness wrestling for control, lowering the mental stress. Also, a part of each of your seals seal was integrated into both, you and the blue-haired moron, down to a molecular level, so now you guys will morph depending on how much power you are exerting. I wont go into more details, since I doubt you would understand even a quarter of what I would say, brat."

"Morph?" Naruto asked with curiosity.

"Think about it like a bloodline limit." The fox said, "After you guys break certain barrier of power, your bodies will change into more animal like forms to accommodate that power and to let you use it more efficiently."

"So you mean I now have a Blood Limit ability?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Well, technically, yes." The fox said dismissively, " Its probably due to a glitch in the seals. And since Ventus used your seal as a blue-print for his own seal, the same thing happened two that blue-haired man."

"I got a Blood Limit." Naruto Muttered, before he grinned broadly. "I got a Blood Limit!" He shouted happily. And then he fainted.

Mean time, Noodle sat there, dumbfounded at the spectacle she had just witnessed. First her teammates finally woke up, but then they started muttering about flashes and memories, then they started talking to animals they could understand them, and then they fainted. She really didn't know what to make out out of the situation, but she settled for watching over them again. She could ask all her questions when they woke up again.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

_ Fast-Forwards: 1 year. Time remaining until the return to Konoha: 0 days_

It was a sunny morning in the village hidden leaves, not much different from the usual day of spring that Konoha was used to, save for the six figures approached the main gate of the village, striding into the village with a sense of purpose and wonder. The tallest figure was an odd one, with long blue hair that reached up to his shoulders, skinny, but his muscles were well defined, and with a pair of eyes that seemed more like orbs of solid onyx, at times giving the impression that he had no eyes. An odd , but powerful looking silver and blue colored lizard was sitting proudly on his shoulder with its tail wrapped around his neck. The Next tallest figure was a man dressed in a red vest that carried a large scroll on his back, and sported a custom made headband that read "Oil" on his forehead. Another oddity of this man was the fact that he had two red lines running down his cheeks, just bellow his eyes.

Beside the white-haired man stood two other odd characters. The one to his immediate left was a large and burly man of dark skin and pupil-less white eyes without any distinguishable iris, sported a ripped camouflaged t-shirt at the shoulders and cargo pants, and carried a large duffle bag over his shoulder. To the left of that man, a green skinned man of average height and mismatched eyes walked along with them, sporting a black long-sleeved shirt overlain with a crimson vest.

The last two members of the odd party, both of which carried their own backpacks, were a purple-haired girl that measured no more than five foot two, with an slender and yet obviously toned body and developing breasts that that would remind people of a fifteen or sixteen year old girl, since they were no larger tan a B-cup. However, it probably would be good not to mention that to her, unless that someone who mentioned it wanted a kunai up their ass. It was a bit of a touchy subject for her, considering she was already nineteen and people still confused her for a fifteen year-old. Lastly, the last figure consisted of a blond haired teenager with stunning blue eyes and blond hair that pointed every direction, and was help out of his eyes only by his headband of the hidden leaf. He wore a short-sleeved black shirt with an orange swirl on his back, some black and white camouflage cargo pants, and black ninja sandals. Probably one of the oddest things about the kid was that he had a red-eyed fox, as large as a house cat, sitting on his shoulder, staring proudly ahead as if he owned the village. Lastly, three whisker marks on each cheek and a large grin adorned his face. Obviously the blond kid was happy about something. So much so that, no sooner had they stepped inside the village, he dropped his backpack on the ground with 'thump' and leaped onto the top of a power-line post.

"Haha…" Jiraiya, laughed softly with amusement, " He is certainly cheerful today, isn't he?"

"Of course he is," Russel replied, "He just got back after three years of loosing contact with all of what he calls home. It would be weird if he _wasn't_ excited."

"The brat is still a brat after all." Murdoc pitched in with a chuckle.

" You know Murdoc," Noodle said with amusement, "That brat can still kick your butt on a one on one fight, _without_ the fox."

"Yeah, but that's different," Murdoc grumbled, "The kid has monster stamina and chakra levels even without that thing he keeps in his stomach. The only one that can keep up with him is an other monster." He glanced over at 2D as if to emphasize his point.

"What?" 2D asked with confusion.

"Never mind face-ache." Murdoc said as he rolled his eyes.

While the rest of his group bickered for a minute, Naruto was already standing on top of the concrete post with his arms wide open and inhaling the smells of his home.

"I MISSED THIS PLACE!" Naruto shouted out to the world with glee. And it was true. He had missed it terribly.

"Watch it brat." The fox grumbled at his shoulder. "I'm right here you know. I don't appreciate you screaming into my ear like some kind of deranged howler monkey."

"Oh, shut it." Naruto muttered back at him with a smirk. He was in too good a mood for anything to ruin it at the moment.

"You've grown a lot, haven't you… Naruto." A voice called out to him.

"Hm?" Naruto swung his head around to the direction where the voice came from.

"Yo!" Kakashi responded from his cross-legged position oh the roof of a house nearby.

"Ah! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said with excitement as he leaped over to join him. "You haven't changed at all!"

'_I cant same the same about you though.' _Kakashi thought to himself as he examined Naruto. Naruto had grown quite about, from being a runt of barely five feet tall to now reaching five foot seven easily, perhaps even more than that. Not to mention that most of the baby fat he had in his face was vanished and his constitution seemed much more solid, making him look much more mature and manly than the little brat he knew before. Perhaps the biggest change was that he had ditched his old orange jumpsuit and replaced it for more appropriate ninja clothing. That alone had made him wonder for a full minute who the blond haired youth was before he recognized the youth as Naruto.

"Who's your little friend?" Kakashi asked curiously, once he noticed the fox.

"Oh this? This is Lazy." Naruto said jokingly, earning him a bite in the ear from the fox. "YEWOCH! Ouch ouch ouch! Alright, alright! I was kidding!" The fox finally let go of his ear and sniffed at him. Kakashi could have almost sworn that the fox looked… indignant?

"Anyways," Naruto muttered as he rubbed his ear and glared briefly at the fox, "I meant to say that his name is Kurama, but I call him Ku. He can have a bit of a temper sometimes, as you have noticed. I found him during my travels."

"Quite the smart little guy, eh?" Kakashi said and gave Naruto and his fox his patented eye-smile.

"Sometimes _too_ smart…" Naruto muttered as he held his ear, before he recalled something. "Oh, wait! Haha. I've got a present for you sensei! (teacher)"

Quickly Naruto opened a small leather pouch he had tied to his waist and produced a small orange book with Golden letter in the cover. Kakashi was stunned.

"This… This is…!" Kakashi started muttering in astonishment as he held the book tenderly, as if it was an illusion that would disappear if he was accidentally too rough with it, "How…You…. How! How did you get it Naruto?"

"Hehe," Naruto grinned as he watched Kakashi gawk at the book that read _Icha Icha Tactics: golden Edition _on its cover. "Well, Ero-sannin (the perverted sage) said it was a supper ultra rare item, so I decided to convince him to give me one for you! I know you love those books." Naruto replied with a grin.

"Naruto…" Kakish said with seriousness that he reserved only for important things, like high ranked missions. His eyes were shadowed by his hair, but Naruto leaned in a bit closer to hear what his teacher might have to say to him that caused such change in his usually laid back attitude. "I am forever in your debt!" Kakashi concluded with a teary eyed smile as he suddenly enveloped Naruto in a rib-crushing hug.

"Ka…Kashi… sensei…"Naruto gasped out, "Can't… breath!"

Immediately Kakashi let go of his apprentice with slight awkwardness, but with no less affection for the boy, before he bowed to him and said, "Thanks a bunch Naruto! I must go now though, I uh…. I have to let Hokage know you are here now. Ciao! See you around soon."

And with that, Kakashi took off running faster than Naruto had ever seen him run, heck, Naruto thought that at that moment, Kakashi could have outrun even Gai.

'_Well…'_ Naruto thought with surprise, _'Who would have know that Kakashi-sensei could run that fast when he was motivated.'_

Kurama, for his part, just snorted. "That perverted teacher of yours is probably just going to report to Tsunade and then go hide somewhere to read his book."

"How do _you_ know that?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Please, kid. I am thousands of years old. I think I know more than you give me credit for."

"Fair enough." Naruto said with a grin.

"Hey! Come back here Naruto!" Jiraiya called at him. "We got to go to the Hokage's office!"

"Hai!" Naruto replied and jumped back to ground level to join his team.

"Good." Jiraiya said with a smirk. "Now, Naruto, I want you to show your new team members where the Hokage tower is. I must go for a bit, I have some urgent business to take care of. Go directly to Tsunaide-Hime (hime- princess), and wait for me there, alright?" And that was the last thing the Toad Sage said before he was gone.

Everyone in the party rolled their eyes and sighed in annoyance, save for Murdoc who was giggling a perverted little giggle. They all knew where he was going. The Old Henita (pervert) was going on a little trip to the hot springs to do his "Research".

Naruto sighed once again and turned back to his friends. "Alrighty then. Shall we?"

Receiving a round of nods, Naruto started showing them around town as the walked towards the Hokage's tower, and none of the group was aware that they were already attracting the attention of anyone that so much as caught a glimpse of them as they walked down the street.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Blegh, that guy was a total ass." Ino complained to her friend, "Already bad enough that he took me tried to kiss me as soon as he saw me come out of my houses when its our first date, but trying to grope my butt was going too far!"

" You did well in kicking his ass Ino," Tenten agreed, "Where have all the good men gone eh? You'd think there would be better candidates in this Village, considering there is a good seven thousand people living here, but nooo, half of them have to be either asses or perverts, and the other half are chickens that shake in their boots as soon as they realize you are a ninja."

"Agreed," Ino said with distaste, flipping her silvery-gold hair of her shoulder with her hand as she walked down the street with her friend. That had been the fifteenth boy she had tried to date in the last year, and the fifteenth date that had ended horribly this year. To be honest, she was starting to see why Kurenai-sensei and Anko were so cold to so much of the male population in Konoha. Most men were... disappointing in this village. Lately she had even considering the loud mouth brat that Naruto used to be was an even better candidate than ninety percent of the available male population in Konoha.

"You know," Ino mentioned, "Even Naruto would be better than most guys around here."

"That's a pretty serious statement Ino." Tenten said with raised eyebrows.

"At least he is cheerfull and doesn't shake in his sandals when he realizes you are a ninja too." Ino replied.

"True." Tenten coincided, "And he takes Kunoichi (Female Ninja) seriously, not dismissively as more than half of the male ninja do."

"But he is still abrat." Ino said with a smile.

"True." Tenten smiled back. "I bet that he is still the skinny orange-jumpsuit wearing runt that kept screaming Hokage every waking moment of his day during his Academy days."

Ino and Tenten shared a laugh as they walked down the sidewalk, remembering the funny but determined Naruto they had known in their younger days of the academy. A second later Ino caught sight of a group of people walking down the street, and her eyes became fixed on the blond hared youth with a fox on his shoulder that was leading a group of four other people.

Tenten, noticing that her friend had stopped laughing and walking, also stopped and looked in the same direction that her friend was looking, and caught sight of the blonde haired youth. He was taller than she was, with a very well toned body if his arms gave any clue about the rest of his body, and she caught sight of a pair of sapphire-blue eyes. She almost started drooling along with Ino as they watched him go by, and it wasn't until he was out of sight that they were able to regain their ability to talk again.

"You know," Ino muttered to her friend, "Maybe our village isn't so hopeless after all."

All Tenten could do to agree with her friend was nod her head. She couldn't agree more with Ino.

Of course, Naruto, being as oblivious and naive as he is, didn't even suspect that he had been gawked at by Ino and Tenten (and several other females along the way). Neither did he realize that a fair amount of women were gawking and openly drooling at 2D (and neither did 2D realize that either for that matter). However, Ventus and Kurama both noticed, and they couldn't help but fell somewhat proud of their containers. After all, if they had to be bonded to a human, might as well be a human that people found attractive and impressive, no?

Suddenly, Kurama was hit by an idea of pure brilliance. The fox couldn't help but to grin to himself and then quickly send a telepathic message to Ventus.

'_Hey, Ventus. Tell your container to tell the others to hang back for a little while. I am going to do something. I should be back soon."_ And without waiting for a reply, Kurama leaped off Narutos shoulder and sprinted away around a corner.

"Ku! Where are you going?" Naruto exclaimed in surprise when the fox decided to take off running, and had no choice but to chase after him.

Mean time, Kurama was already turning a corner and he spotted the two girls who were still rooted to the spot. The fox lost no time in picking his favorite between the two girls, choosing the platinum-blond haired girl with large C-cup breasts and a pretty face. Immediately he ran up to her and leaped onto her chest, causing her to automatically bring her arms up to hold him in surprise. Then Kurama used his secret technique, which he had finally mastered after a year of traveling around with Naruto and the Gorillaz. The Puppy Dog Eyes!

The girls didn't stand a chance. Their heart melted as soon as they saw those eyes.

"Awww…. You are so cute!" Ino squalled happily and squeezed the fox onto her chest, causing the fox to mentally sigh in delight. "Who are you little guy?"

"Kurama! You bastard! Where are you stupid fox?" A voice shouted around the corner. Soon, the owner of the voice came around the corner, and the girls where shocked to see it was the blond haired guy they were drooling over just a minute ago.

The boy finally spotted the fox in the arms of Ino and turned to run towards them. "Ku, what's the matter with you?" He asked at the fox with a raised eyebrow as he reached to take the fox out of Ino's grasp. The fox, for his part, just gave the girls a second heart-melting stare and gave a little squeak that caused the girls to get all giddy and got their cuteness sensors going again.

"Sorry about that." They blond boy said sincerely as the fox jumped back on his shoulder and gave him a little lick on the cheek, "Ku, you cant just go around bothering all the pretty girls in the village."

"Again, I am sorry for the trouble my fox may have caused you," The blond haired youth said as he looked up to the faces of the girls for the first time. The girls, for their part, just lost themselves in the big sapphire colored eyes of the owner of the fox for a second.

"Oh, Hi Tenten!" Naruto said cheerily once he recognized them, "You've grown a lot! And Ino! How have you been? Its been a while since I saw you guys! You guys certainly are looking good." Naruto said with a smile.

Ino and Tenten just blinked for a second. Did they know this guy? Noh.. they didn't think so… they would have remembered if a hottie like him had talked to them before… Well, might as well go along with it for now, and make the best out of this.

"Its okay!" Tenten rushed to say, as she stepped forwards and smiled, and quickly thought of a way to work around the questions of the blond youth to hide their ignorance. Immediately she thought about the fox. Maybe if they asked questions about him they could get around the predicament and earn some time to learn about the charming young shinobi that had appeared before them. "The little guy is so cute that it really wasn't any trouble at all. Is the little guy yours?"

"Yeah! His name is La-," Naruto managed stop himself when he heard the fox give a soft growl on his shoulder, and quickly began again, "I mean, his name is Kurama, but I call him Ku. Sometimes the little guy likes to run wild, but he is usually well behaved. I don't know why he rushed out like he did."

"Oh, really don't worry about it." Ino jumped in. No way she was going to let tenten do all the talking. She wanted to get a shot at the guy too.

"Yeah, he is a weird little-"

The fox then decided to give a loud yip and and looked at the Blonde shinobi significantly.

"Oh yeah!" The blonde exclaimed. "We have to go to the Hokage tower, don't we? Damn. Oh well. We'll catch up later alright girls?" The blond asked with a heart-melting smile.

"Y-yeah!" Ino stuttered.

"Of course!" Tenten joined in.

"Awesome! See you around then!" And with that, the blonde shinoby dashed away in the same direction he had come from, leaving the two girls with only one question in their minds: _'Who was that magnificent specimen of a man?'_

"Done?" Russel asked with a raised eyebrow as Naruto returned with his fox.

"Yeah, I don't know why he decided to do that…" Naruto replied, "Anyways, you guys ready? We are almost there."

The group once again resumed their walk towards the Hokage Tower. Once the tower was in sight, Naruto stopped and turned around to face the rest of his group with a smile.

"And _this_ is the Hokage tower! One of the safest places in all Konoha!" He said proudly. Unfortunately for him, a second later a shout was heard from inside the tower, and some random shinobi was obviously punched out the window by some tremendous force. Naruto managed to see recognize that the shinobi had a red vest and long white hair. Obviously Jiraiya had tried something on Tsunade again and had gotten his punishment for his vulgarity.

The Gorillaz watched the man sail through the air for a few seconds until it crashed into a building, before turning to look at Naruto with raised eyebrows.

"Hehe…" Naruto said nervously, "Erm… Well, the safest as long as you don't piss off Tsunade- baa-chan (baa-chan = granny)."

* * *

><p><strong>AAAAAANNNND CUT! THERE YOU HAVE IT! That's Chapter 7. I hope you guys enjoyed it! I certainly did enjoy writing it. And I think I must have done some kind of record too! I wrote it in a bit more than a day. I am so proud of myself! XP<strong>

**Anyways, here is the updated report cards of our friends (courtesy of Jiraiya).**

**Naruto**

Strength: -B; Ninjutsu arsenal average (NAA): -B; Speed: -B; Book-smarts: -C; Chakra control: +D; Chakra Reserves (without the help of the fox): +A; Taijutsu: -B; Genjutsu: -D. Stamina: +A; Specialty: Tank and Melee fighter. Good at close range and mid range. Other Notes: -Can take a huge lot of punishment and still be alright.  
>-He has learned a lot in the art of seal making, and has developed a friendly rivalry with 2D, bot always competing to see who can make the better Seal. Soon, the two of them will surpass me when it comes to Seal making.<br>-Super Speed Healing. Is able to use up to four tails and still be rational, without his bloodline. Anything past that, he looses his mind. He has gained what we have named Blood Limit which we now call "Fox-Blood". It can causes a transformation which increases his power significantly. Bloodline level: A. Seal Making level: +B

**2D**

Strength: -B; NAA: -B; Speed: -B; Book-smarts: +D; Chakra control: +D; Chakra Reserves (without the help of the Dragon): +A; Taijutsu: +C/Borderline -B; Genjutsu: -D. Stamina: +A; Specialty: Tank, and Melee fighter. Good at close range, and mid range. Other Notes: -Can take an absurd amount of punishment and still be alright.  
>-Has taken up Seal making, and is making fast progress. He has a friendly rivalry with Naruto when I it comes to Seal making. Soon he will be able to match me.<br>-Has Fast Healing ability, though not quite as fast as Naruto's. However, his body is more sturdy than Naruto's.  
>-He is able to gain Horns, Wings, Tail, and claws before loosing his mind when utilizing just the Dragon's chakra with out his bloodline. He has gained a blood Limit, which we have Named "Dragon-Blood". It causes a transformation that increases his power significantly. Bloodline level: A. Seal Making level: +B<p>

**Noodle**

Strength: C; NAA: C; Speed: +C; Book-smarts: B; Chakra control: -B; Chakra Reserves: C ; Taijutsu: +C; Genjutsu: C. Stamina: C; Specialty: Generalist and Melee fighter. Seems to be equally Good close range and mid range, however she seems to be able to act as support as well. Other Notes: Very adaptable, and for a little girl she can take quite a beating, but still, she has a limit. Her ability to take punishment is only somewhat above average, its nowhere close to Naruto and 2D's. She seems to be protective of 2D, though only Lord knows why she would protect some one with such a massive amount of chakra. I would imagine that he doesn't need any protection from the average ninja. Additionally, she is probably the most well rounded member of the team.

**Russel**

Strength: B; NAA: C; Speed: C; Book-smarts: B; Chakra control: B; Chakra Reserves: +C ; Taijutsu: +C; Genjutsu: -C. Stamina: +C; Specialty: Generalist. Seems to be equally good at acting in direct combat or as a support. Other Notes: Very level headed and he has pretty good chakra control. Perhaps he would do well as a medic or an strategist. I should think on how to help him develop those talents. The man sown that he definitely has an affinity as a medic, I will introduce him to Tsunade ASAP.

**Murdoc**

Strength: +C; NAA: C; Speed: C; Book-smarts: +C; Chakra control: C; Chakra Reserves: C ; Taijutsu: +C; Genjutsu: -C. Stamina: C; Specialty: Melee fighter and Torture & Inquisition. Seems to be good at close ranges, and he knows how to attack the human mind efficiently. Other Notes: He seems to have a sadistic tendency, and he can be quite effective at attacking the human mind. I bet that he would get along well with Anko and Ibiki. I will recommend him to their department when we reach Konoha. The man has also demonstrated an excellent ability at Setting traps.

**And that's all for now. I hope you guys enjoy it! This is Dragon, Logging out.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello fanfiction people! The dragon is back once more with a new chapter! Thank you to all that reviewed in my last chapter, it is highly appreciated!  
>And that said, on with the story. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the latest chapter of my creation!<strong>

**0-0-0-0-0**

**Chapter 8: Surprises**

Tsunade huffed in annoyance as she watched Jiraiya fly away from her office after being on the receiving end of one of her punches. Usually she wouldn't have done that after being waiting for see him and his apprentice again for three years, but when the old pervert had tried to cope a feel of her butt, she had reacted rather… violently.

Still, she couldn't help but grin to herself. If the old Toad was here, then that meant…

"HEY BAA-CHAN!" A voice screamed out happily as the door to her office burst open, fallowed by a flash of golden hair, and an instant later she received a fierce hug from a golden haired young man.

It took her a second to recognize the blond youth as Naruto, which was probably due to his change of attire, but aside from his change in height and clothes he really hadn't changed much as far as she could tell. She smiled at him.

"Hey there Gaki!" She replied cheerfully as she hugged him back, "Its been a while. You are getting big, eh, brat?"

"You bet he is." Jiraiya's voice came from the hole she had created when Tsunade had punched him through the wall. The man was now crawling back into the Hokage's office through that same hole as he spoke, "The little bugger has gotten stronger too, you know." Jiraiya continued as he finally pulled himself up onto his feet and dusted himself off. "Him and the rest of his group have progressed a lot. I bet they each can take a chunin by themselves without much trouble now. Perhaps they could even give a jounin a decent run for his money."

"I see. That's good then." Tsunade said as she released Naruto from her hug.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto said with a toothy grin, "I've gotten a hell of a lot stronger! Believe it!"

Tsunade had to chuckle at Naruto's enthusiasm. Same hyperactive brat as always.

"Good to hear gaki." She said with approval. She returned to her desk and sat down "So, Tell me where are these… 'New wonders' that you have encountered during your travels with Naruto, Jiraiya? I was under the impression that the two of you had gather a few extra people of interest along the way, yes?"

The words had just barely left her lips when Naruto smiled toothily at her in excitement, and Jiraiya got that devious smirk along with that knowing glint in his eye when he knew something good that others did not. Tsunade summarized that this would be an interesting meeting.

"You'll love them baa-chan!" Naruto said excitedly, before running to the door and opening it up before calling out to someone beyond it. "Common in people! Its time for you to meet the Hokage!"

A moment latter Naruto stepped away from the door and watched with Tsunda and Jiraiya as it began to open again and in came the oddest bunch of people Tsunade had ever laid eyes upon. And considering the length of her life, and how much she had seen through out the years, that was an accomplishment.

Tsunade visually examined and studied the guests as they came in with the surgical precision that she had learned from her craft of healing. The first one to come in was tall, even taller than Jiraiya, forcing him to haunch over slightly to avoid smacking his forehead on the rim of the doorframe and dazzling blue hair, which she suspected might have been its natural color, covered his eyes for a moment. However, once he had passed the doorway and looked up once again, Tsunade barely managed to suppress her gasp.

Jiraiya wished he had had a camera to take a picture of Tsunade when she saw 2D's eyes. Never had she seen her open her eyes so widely before. It was almost comical to watch the incredible healing Sanin go wide-eyed at a physical condition she had never encountered before… Then again, he supposed he couldn't blame her. After all, how many people in the world look like they have had their eyes replaced with spheres of solid obsidian? So perfectly black where his eyes that if anyone where to look from a distance they might even have confused 2D's eyes for holes in his head.

Following the blue-haired giant walked in a girl, perhaps around fifteen years of age by Tsunade's estimate, given her physical appearance. The girl seemed normal enough, save perhaps for the fact that she had purple hair and moved with a subtle grace. Upon further inspection, Tsunade noticed that the girl's hands were somewhat calloused, indicating that she had been working with her hands a fair bit. Tsunade smiled ever so slightly at that. Female ninja were scarce enough, but female ninja that actually bothered to train and have some discipline were rare. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Following her came a green man that reminded Tsunade of an imp or goblin of some sort, with a lecherous grin smeared on his face as he looked at her over from head to toe. Tsunade groaned inwardly when she saw the grin that the man sported. She had seen it enough on Jiraiya's face to realize that it was a grin that labeled the man as a pervert of colossal proportions. And by the way he was acting, he see,ed to actually be on par with Jiraiya in the pervert department. Suppressing a frown that was threatening to appear on her face, Tsunade decided to reserve further judgment on the green-skinned imp until later. If he had earned the trust of both, Jiraiya _and _Naruto, then there had to be at least some redeeming quality to him…. Right?

Thankfully, a last figure crossed the doorway into her office, and distracted her from thinking any further negative criticism about Murdoc. The last one to come in was a man that seemed to be the antithesis of the blue haired man; at least in regards to his eyes, since they were practically neon white orbs instead obsidian orbs blackness. What struck her as odd was the fact that the man had dark skin, and while she had no problem with his skin color, she wondered where he could be from, since the only country that she was aware of having dark skinned people was the country of lightning. She wondered if perhaps he was from somewhere far removed land beyond the seas. It was possible she supposed.

"Baa-chan, this are my new friends!" Naruto said proudly to her, "So let me introduce you them properly and all that. " Naruto said with pride as he prepared to show off his friends to the full extent of his capabilities, going as far as puffing up slightly as he began to give Tsunade the profiles of her friends. "The one with the white eyes is Russel," Russel smiled and nodded his head pleasantly at her, "He is about five foot seven is thirty one years old, and a half, weighs about three hundred pounds but don't let that fool you, he is a really strong one. He is also very smart, and knows a lot about many things." Naruto sucked in a quick breath before continuing with his next friend.

"The green one is Murdoc," Murdoc grinned a toothy grin and gave her a wink, which caused her to frown slightly, "He is also real smart, but he can also be very sneaky and exact. He is thirty six years old, and measures about five foot eight or perhaps just a hair under that. Oh! And he is just as bad as Ero-Sannin when it comes to women." Naruto finished with a bit of distaste, earning a perverted giggle from Murdoc and a low groan from Tsunade.

'_I _knew_ it! An other pervert!'_ Tsunade thought to her self, resisting the urge to facepalm in front of the new arrivals.

"And the girl is Noodle," Naruto continued, completely missing Tsunade's Reaction to Murdoc. Noodle, for her part, bowed to Tsunade politely and smiled, a smile that the Hokage was more than willing to return. "She is turned nineteen not long ago, and her hight is five foot three exactly." Tsunade managed to suppress any hint of surprise her face might have shown when she heard the actual age of the girl, figuring that she might be a bit sensitive at the subject. She was pretty damn sure that the girl would not like to hear that she thought she had the body of the average fifteen year old girl, or the fact that part of the reason for her judgment was that Noodle only had about a small to a medium sized B-cup breasts. Obliviously, Naruto continued his report, "She is really flexible, and she is a quick one too, and she can do a lot of things, and she is also smart! I think she could probably give Sakura and Hinata a run for their money when it comes to book smarts."

Tsunade nodded in acknowledgement giving one last look at the girl before focusing on the last newcomer just as Naruto began his presentation of her friend. "And the tall one 2D." 2D smiled broadly and waved his hand slightly at her. "He is really cool you know? He is twenty six years old, and measures around six feet and a half…. Maybe a bit more. Anyways, I admit he isn't the smartest dude around, and please don't take that the wrong way 2D, you are awesome!" Naruto said casting a side glance at 2D who just wave his hand signifying that it was no problem and smiling a little at Naruto who continued talking, despite the fact the Murdoc was obviously trying to contain a laugh at the blue haired man's expense, "He is strong too, not as much as Russel but still. He does have a lot of energy like me though. Oh! And he can really sing too! And play the keyboards." Naruto concluded by crossing his arms and nodding sagely before he whipped his head around to face his friends. "And guys, this is my baa-chan and Hokage, Tsunade!" Naruto concluded with a grin.

"Very... Interesting friends Naruto." Tsunade said carefully. She didn't want to say something that might get misinterpreted at this point in time.

"Oh you have no idea," Naruto said happily, "They are full of surprises."

"You got that right kid." Murdoc said with smirk.

"And! They play like a bazillion songs!" Naruto added excitedly, "It's like nothing you've ever heard baa-chan, honest!"

"Oh," Tsunade said with surprise, "they are musicians?"

"The very best." Jiraiya replied.

"I see... Well, maybe I'll get to hear you guys play some time." Tsunade said nicely, adding a smile for good mesure. This turned out to be the correct answer it would seem, considering that the excitement in the atmosphere in the room increased considerably at the suggestion, but before everyone got distracted or carried away, she decided to return to a more pressing subject. "Anyways, tell me everything about your travels. And you can start by explaining that little fox that just stuck his head out of your backpack."

In all honesty, Tsunade had just mentioned the fox out of curiosity, but when she noticed Naruto's eyes switch from cheerful to nervous, and Jiraiya's relaxed face tighten slightly, she knew something was up. And by what she was observing of their reactions, it was not something she was going to be thrilled about.

"Naruto, Jiraiya..." She said with a tone that demanded answers, "What's the deal with the fox?"

"Er... Well, you see..." Jiraiya started nervously, causing Tsunade's piercing glare to focus on him, " Ah, you see...ummm..."

"Well?" Tsunade asked sharply.

"Alright we'll tell you the whole story, but promise not to flip out until we are done." Jiraiya said quickly, earning only a slight nod from Tsunade.

Immediately Jiraiya and Naruto launched themselves into recounting their story, beginning from the day they had first met the Gorillaz and proceeding until the day of the massive explosion when the fox and dragon had partially escaped their containers, with the band members adding their own bits of information to the story to make it more complete. By the end of the story Tsunade was more pale than Jiraiya had ever seen her in the last decade. It was a full minute of silence after the story had concluded before Tsunade broke the silence first.

"So you are telling me... That the little fox on your shoulder," She said as she pointed at the fox that was currently grooming his tail on Naruto's shoulder, "is the great nine-tailed fox that could split mountains and create earthquakes?"

She received a round of nods from the rest of the people in her office.

"And," she continued, "that that little weird lizard is the dragon lord Ventus, who rivaled the Nine-Tailed fox in terms of power?"

Again there was a round of nods from everyone else in her office.

"And to top it off, Naruto and… 2D, have some sort of bloodline due to the fox and dragon partially escaping?"

"That's about the gist of it, yes." Jiraiya said nervously.

Tsunade silently nodded and stared at each of the people present in her office with a stern expression for a full minute, before sighing and holding her head between her hands and groaning, "... I need a drink."

Things had just gotten a hell of a lot more complicated at Konoha.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

In the end, the Hokage had called Shizune into the office and ordered her to get Kakashi and Iruka immediately as there was business that required them to show up as soon as possible.

Once the two males plus Shizune had arrived to the Hokage's tower (Kakashi being on time for once in his life), Tsunade, along with Naruto, Jiraiya, and the Gorillaz, carefully explained to them the situation between Naruto and the fox and 2D and the Dragon. To say that the three that were being included in such delicate information were shocked was an understatement equivalent to saying that Jiraiya had slightly indecent tendencies or that Tsunade liked to drink a little. In other words, it was a wonder that they could speak at all after they had the knowledge revealed to them.

"As I am sure you all understand," Tsunade said once the explanation had concluded, " This is _EXTREMELY _sensitive information, and you are all being informed due to your closeness with the boy AND because your interactions with him. This is an S rank secret and should be handled with great care. Also, the origins of these four," Tsunade motioned with her hand towards the Band members, "Is also an S rank secret. They can be key to advancing the village in several ways, and help us gain a greater edge over other villages or potential threats. Am I clear?"

"Hai!" the three adult shinobi stated with clarity, all of them standing a bit straighter than usual.

"Good." Tsunade said with a nod of her head, "Now, what to do with all this information... For now I think it be best if you would take your time reacquainting yourself with the village Naruto. In fact, you and your friends are free to go for now. Go show them around town for a while and introduce them to some people or something."

Naruto nodded happily, but before he could turn away from Tsunade she called out to him again. "Oh, and before I forget, I've arranged for them to live in the same apartment as you. The four of them will have to fit in the two apartments at either side of your own. Here are the keys for both of them." Tsunade dug into her pocket and withdrew two copper keys, which she handed over to the white-eyed fellow called Russel. "Alright, now you may go. Kakashi, Jiraiya, you two stay for a while. Shizune and Iruka, please return to your jobs immediately."

Shizune and Iruka departed first in a rush, promising Naruto to catch up with him as soon as they could, and giving the Band members a welcoming smile. Naruto and the band members departed soon after, with Naruto chattering excitedly as they excited the room.

Once everyone but Kakashi and Jiraiya had departed, Tsunade turned to look at the two ninja seriously.

"What do we do about this?" She asked promptly, "Better yet, what do we even /know/ about this?"

"No beating around the bush, eh, Tsunade?" Jiraiya replied with a sigh. " Well, Naruto can regulate the fox's power at will, even withdrawing him into his body completely if he needs to, and the same can be said for 2D when it comes to that dragon. The fox and dragon are useful extra allies, and they can be of use to their containers by helping them create incredible combinations and tactics. However, their true power comes to light when they are using their blood limits."

"Well that's all fine and dandy I suppose," Tsunade said thoughtfully, "But can they really control them? Those are some pretty mighty creatures, and, if they were to escape, Konoha will be nothing more than a hole in the ground, regardless of how many ninja we it against them."

"Well," Jiraiya replied, "Neither the fox or dragon have much access to the chakra sealed inside their containers, and Naruto and 2D can always re-seal them if they want to. Plus, I have never seen either the fox or the dragon not listen to their own container." Jiraiya said thoughtfully, "I doubt that we can do much about it in anyways. I checked the seals and whatever happened to them is not reversible."

Tsunade leaned back on her chair and rubbed her temples with a sigh. This was starting to give her a headache. On one hand, she was the Hokage and she had a responsibility to the people of Konoha to protect them as best as she was able to. Having not one, but _TWO_potentially deadly monsters roaming about the village was not exactly optimal for the safety of the Village. But on the other hand, those same monsters could be a great asset to fight against any threat to the village, not to mention that their containers themselves also had some pretty monstrous abilities of their own.

Truth be told, these conflicting thoughts were just starting to run in circles in her mind, and they would have kept going in circles, had it not being for the fact that Tsunade started to recall the people of the village. She recalled the glares the villagers gave Naruto. She recalled The hate, The ignorance, The cruelness, The violence even, of each villager towards Naruto. She recalled the scars she had noticed the villagers had left upon Naruto's mind, and she recalled when she read some of the attempts by the populace of Konoha against the Blond haired youth. It had made her sick to her stomach to read the behavior o the majority of the Village towards such a kind-hearted boy as Naruto. Anger began to boil deep within her with the passing of each and every one of these thoughts and memories as they flashed through her mind, and her face hardened with each passing second.

"Besides," Jiraiya said darkly, snapping Tsunade out of her musings. "Even if the beasts did lay this village to waste, it wouldn't be anything less than what they had coming to them."

"The boy has suffered far more than he has ever deserved." Kalashi added, his voice, while level and not particularly loud, marked with an edge of hardness that revealed his agreement with Jiraiya's opinion.

"True enough." Tsunade agreed with the same hard expression upon her face that Jiraiya and Kakashi were wearing at that moment. It was obvious that the two of them had been recalling the same memories and thinking the exact same thoughts as Tsunade. The Village was lucky that Naruto hadn't gone in a crazed rampage of wrath and death after all he had been through.

"Then it's decided." Tsunade finally said after a moment of heavy silence, "The Boys and their Beasts are free to stay in Konoha... This Village will either live and thrive or die and suffer by the hands of those whom it fears."

"And so it will be." Kakashi said gravely, allowing the room to be consumed by a deafening silence for a long, and stretched out minute.

"By the way Tsunade-sama," Kakashi finally said, breaking the silence that enveloped the room, "I am curious as to the level of my students and about the level of the four new ones. I was thinking about testing them to check on their progress."

Tsunade's eyes closed for a second as she mulled over the idea for a while. She did have a general idea of their abilities thanks to Jiraiya's general report on their abilities, but she needed a more accurate report. After all, of they wanted to overcome the Akatsuki, then they had to know the extent of their abilities to improve upon them.

"Very well Kakashi." Tsunade finally said after a moment of thought, as she opened her eyes and gazed at Kakashi seriously. "I agree with your idea. However, according to what Jiraiya just said, I would imagine it would be hard even for you to keep up with Naruto and Sakura, PLUS four additional team members whose abilities are of a similar degree to that of Naruto's and Sakura's."

"Yes, about that..." Kakashi said thoughtfully, "I was thinking about requesting an additional Jounin for the test, in order to even things up a bit."

"Oh?" Tsunade said with interest as she quirked an eyebrow at him, "And who did you have in mind?"

"I was hoping for someone who has had experience in in the field of observation and information gathering..." Kakashi said thoughtfully, "Someone like... Anko."

Tsunade's eyebrows shot up at when she heard the name of the especial jounin come out of Kakashi's lips, before her expression changed from that of surprise to one of curiosity in the span of a second.

"Anko?"

"Well, provided she is available that is." Kakashi added, "Or someone like her. I was toying with the idea of requesting for Asuma or Kurenai, but I think Anko or Ibiki might be the best choice."

"Speaking of which," Jiraiya interrupted, giving a quick apologetic look at Kakashi who waved it it off good-naturedly, as he recalled something of importance, "Two of the four new ones have some especial... Aptitudes that I would recommend for especial training."

"Go on." Tsunade allowed.

"Murdoc seems to have the talent to be a very efficient T&I (Torture and interrogation) agent, and Russel has shown that he has talent in medical jutsu. I propose that you would give them more suitable teachers than I on those fields. Well, at least for Russel. Murdoc is already an incredibly efficient interrogator." Jiraiya had to suppress a shudder as he remembered a few of the things Murdoc had done to an enemy ninja they had captured a few months back. The man, obviously a jounin that specialized in espionage and scouting, had broken down after two hours with Murdoc, and had told them everything they asked.

"I see." Tsunade said thoughtfully, "I will do what I can about it. Perhaps I might even take Russel as my third apprentice, and I will refer Murdoc to Ibiki."

Jiraiya nodded with satisfaction at Tsunade's answer and turn his head to address Kakashi once more, "Sorry about the interruption Kakashi. Please continue."

"No worries Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi said dismissively before continuing where he had lefty off, "Anko might be a good choice. Or perhaps Ibiki would be a good choice too. I remember when we both used to be in ANBU, and I trust his judgment observational skills perhaps more than anybody else's. Besides, since Ibiki and I have worked together before we will work much more efficiently with me and the test will provide very accurate results due to the increased difficulty and the combination of Ibiki's observational skill and my own."

Tsunade was quite impressed with Kakashi's assessment of the situation and his ability to effectively select the most suited candidates for the task at hand. It was little wonder that Kakashi was an Elite Jounin, the man was certainly a genius, and his skill level was bordering at low Kage level. He was most certainly deserving of the impressive reputation he had made for himself. However, now wasn't the time to be impressed. They had work to do.

"I see. Well, I am sure Ibiki wouldn't mind a change of scenery." Tsunade said with a small smirk. "I might just go watch this test of yours. It sounds like its going to be... Interesting."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it!" Jiraiya said with a wicked giggle, "Those five apprentices of mine are full of surprises, and I'm sure you've taught Sakura a thing or two yourself, isn't that right Tsunade?"

A glint shone on Tsunade's eyes for an instant and a small smile appeared on her lips briefly before she replied, "Of course."

"But," Jiraiya said with a hint of pride, "I bet you that my apprentices will surprise you even more. Who knew that they were already at a level at which they could make their own jutsu?"

"What?" Tsunade asked with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. This piece of news was certainly unexpected, and piqued her curiosity in an instant. "Jiraiya, explain. What are these Jutsu." She commanded, only to get a sly smirk from Jiraiya, much to her irritation.

"No can do Tsuade-hime! The kid and his friends want to surprise you and the rest of the world." Jiraiya said with a mischievous grin, "What I _can _tell you though, is that you are in for a surprise. Oh, and the brat and the tall one have taken up Fuinjutsu (Seal-Making techniques) and they are getting pretty good at it."

"Jiraiya..." Tsunade said with a warning tone. She didn't exactly enjoy being left in the dark about stuff like this.

"Well, would you look at the time!" Jiraiya said quickly with a slight quiver to his voice, "I better get going! See you guys around!"

And with that, he leaped away faster than a scared rabbit before anything else could be said.

"Bastard..." Tsunade grumbled with annoyance to herself. "Ah, screw it. Kakashi, test them tomorrow. Ibiki is busy today, and I am sure Naruto would appreciate a little time to rest. You may go now."

"Hai!" Kakashi exclaimed, before he leaped out the window. Tsunade observed the window Kakashi had used to exit her office for a second, before she slumped back on her chair and heaved a great sigh.

'_Now I _really_ need a drink…'_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Naruto guided his four friends around Konoha for a while, showing them the Hokage monument and telling them stories of the past Hokages, and pointing out locations where he carried out some of his best pranks. Eventually Naruto took them to his favorite Ramen stand, where he promptly sat down and called out as usual.

"HEY OLD-MAN! I'M BACK!"

"Why you little punk!" an angry voice wrung out from the back of the stand before a middle aged man with a white apron came up to the counter with a less that friendly look upon his face, " Who are you calling-! Huh? Naruto?"

"The one and only!" Naruto replied with his famous foxy grin. "How yah doing old man? Did you miss me?"

The chef stared at Naruto blankly for a second before giving a hearty laugh at his favorite costumer and replying, "Naruto! I almost didn't recognize you without that orange jumpsuit of yours! Ha! You've grown boy. And yes, yes we did miss you, business isn't the same without my best costumer around you know?" The old man replied with a smile at his best costumer.

"Glad to hear that." Naruto replied happily, "By the way, these are my new friends! That one is 2D, and that one is Russel, and this is Murdoc, and the girl here is Noodle. Guys, this is Teuchi, and a great old friend of mine! In fact, he and Ayame are like family to me!" Naruto concluded with a wide smile.

"Hello strangers," Teuchi reapplied affably, "Nice to see Naruto has made some good friends. He's a good kid."

"Oh, we know that." 2D said with a friendly smile, "He is a great kid."

The statement was met with nods of agreement from te chef and the other band members, making Naruto's cheeks blush a rosy pink color and making him put a hand behind his head and smile while he stood there awkwardly basking in their praises.

"By the way old-man," Naruto said once he had gotten over his embarrassment, "Where is Ayame-ne-chan (ne-chan = sister)?"

"Ah! Right, one second." The chef ducked under the curtain that divided the front of the Ramen stand from the Kitchens and called out, "Ayame! Come here! Guess who is back!"

"What now dad?" asked an annoyed feminine from somewhere in the ramen stand's kitchen. A minute later a slender arm pushed the thin curtain to a side, revealing a fairly good looking girl in her late teens or early twenties with short-ish brown hair. The girl's eyes looked around curiously at the five costumers before her eyes landed on the unruly mane of blond hair that belonged to a certain unpredictable and blond haired Ninja. She stated at the boy in silence for a good five seconds before she finally gasped and went wide-eyed. "Naruto! You are back!"

"Damn straight I am!" Naruto replied loudly, giving her his patented foxy grin to emphasize his point.

Ayame laughed a little and ruffled Naruto's hair. The kid might have grown a bit, but he was still like her younger brother. Smirking at the comical pout that Naruto was putting on, she quickly pulled out a notepad and a pencil before addressing her costumers.

"So, what will you guys be having?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

/_The Next Day..._/

The word of Naruto's return had spread around Konoha faster a wildfire, and the whole Village was buzzing with feelings that ranged from hatred, to agitation, to happy excitement. Amongst the turmoil that the return of "Konoha's Fox" created in the village, there was also a fair bit of curiosity towards the rumored four new ninjas that Jiraiya had picked up along his travels with Naruto. The rumor had it that the four Ninja had to be something special for the famed toad sannin to take them as his apprentices.

Thus, it wasn't surprising that most of the town was on the lookout for the five novelties of the town. Not that they were too hard to find, given the fact they stood out more than a sore thumb.

"Man, this is weird," Naruto commented as the five of them walked side-by-side down a the street, "Everyone is staring and stuff. How did they even know we are here?"

"It's a Ninja Village Naruto," a voice said in front of him, where found a grown male teenager that matched the description of a Hyugga with long hair, " It's not hard to imagine that news travel fast around here."

Naruto blinked and was quiet for a second, before smiling brightly. "Neji! How have you been man?"

"I've been fine, thank you." Neji replied with a smile, "And what about yourself?"

"I am better than ever! Believe it!" Naruto said confidently.

"YOSH! Neji! How un-youthful of you to take off to greet Naruto without telling us first!" A familiar voice screamed out with energy, and everyone turned their heads to catch sight of a fast-approaching spandex clad shinobi with a bowl hair cut, dallied by a brown haired girl that was dressed in Chinese styled clothing. In a second, the two new arrivals stood beside Neji, grinning at Naruto and greeting him.

"Lee! Tenten! How have you guys been?" Naruto asked brightly.

But before they could reply, a set of three people dropped down from a nearby house to face the group of friends. "What's this?" a familiar voice sounded from on top of a horse-sized white dog, "Did Naruto call a class reunion and didn't invite us?"

"Kiba, my man!" Naruto said with the same brightness he had given all his other friends, "What's up bro? And Shino? Is that you? Wow, you really grew man! And Hinata, wow! You _really_ grew up!"

Shino and Kiba smiled and laughed respectively, and Hinata blushed until she was glowing red and stuttering her thanks towards Naruto, before being interrupted again by an other set of voices.

"Man, why are all of you here? This could be troublesome." A familiar lazy voice rang out, which belonged to none than to Shikamaru, who was being flanked by Ino and Chouji. "Hey Naruto. How is it going?" the Nara asked with a lazy wave of his hand.

"Hey Shikamaru, good to see you again! Wow Ino, you've really grown too huh? And Chouji! When did you grow your hair so long man? it looks awesome!" Naruto called out to them with glee, causing Chouji to puff up proudly, Ino to blush, and Shikamaru to glance at his teammates and sigh.

"Oi! What's going on here?" a young feminine voice called out from nearby, which turned out to be the pink-haired Sakura. She had caught sight of her large group of friends and decided to check out what the commotion was all about. It wasn't long before she spotted the golden mane of hair and it's owner, though she took a second to recognize its owner. "Eh? Naruto?"

"Hey Sakura-chan! Looking good as always!" He replied with a broad smile. Man, it felt good seeing his friends again after so long.

Sakura, like the rest of the girls present, was unable to talk to Naruto for a moment as she did a double take and noticed the drastic changes to her blond teammate's appearance. For one thing, he was NOT wearing his trademark orange jumpsuit, and for another he looked like he had been sent to Mr. Macho's Boot-camp, considering she could see the very clear outline of his very well tonnes muscles through his dark red shirt. However, her train of thought was interrupted when someone behind spoke up.

"Well, someone is popular." A male voice said with a perverted giggle, causing most everyone to turn their attention to the owner of the voice, who turned out to be a certain green-skinned bass player.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked suspiciously at the green man.

"Oh, nothing." Murdoc said with an impish grin as he looked slightly away from Naruto, who gave him one last skeptical look before shrugging and looking back at his younger friends, only to find them looking back and forth between him and the Gorillaz with raised eyebrows. It took him a couple of seconds to figure out that they were wondering who the four musicians were and they were waiting for him to introduce them.

"Oh! Right," Naruto said suddenly realizing what his friends meant, "Everyone, meet my new friends, the Gorillaz!" He said excitedly as he motioned towards the Band Members dramatically to emphasize his point. For the next little while there where a lot of handshakes, bows, and greetings exchanged between the Band members and Naruto's young friends, who were genuinely curious about the band members.

"Naruto, we should spar sometime, I bet I could whoop your ass this time!" Kiba said eagerly.

"YOSH! Same here Naruto! We should spar and fan our flames of eternal youth!" Lee said excitedly as well.

"Bring it!" Naruto replied just as eagerly, "I've gotten a hell of a lot stronger too!"

"Now, Now Naruto," A new voice said calmly and lazily, causing everyone to look at the direction of the source of the voice, only to find Kakashi, Ibiki, Jiraiya, and Tsunade walking towards them, "You and your friends can beat eachother into a coma AFTER we have had a little test."

"Eh?" Naruto replied brilliantly at his sensei.

"You heard him, gaki." Jiraiya replied with a smirk, "You, Sakura, and the Band are having a test to measure your abilities as Ninja."

Everyone just stared at Jiraiya for a second, before Naruto spoke up. "Sure thing Kakashi-sensei!" before he turned around and said his momentary goodbyes to his friends, promising to catch up as soon as possible.

"Alright you lot," Tsunade said, "Let's get going." The group of apprentices and teachers set out to a remote training ground at the edge of Konoha, an area which was well hidden by the surrounding forest.

"Alrighty then," Kakashi said once the group landed in the center of the training area, "The test is pretty much the same as the one Naruto and Sakura had three years ago save for a few changes, but since you four," Kakashi said as he looked at the band members, "were not there, I will explain fully. Basically, me and Ibiki each have three silver bells." Kakashi and Ibiki each showed everyone present their respective bells, and then tied them to their belt. "The goal of the test is to take all the bells by any means necessary. The test last until the dawn of tomorrow morning, which is roughly twenty hours."

Ibiki picked up were Kakashi left off, finishing the briefing of the test. "The only limitations is killing eachother. Other than that, Jiraiya and Tsunade will observe the test and may stop it at any time. Any questions?" Ibiki waited for a few seconds, and when no question was was asked, he gave a small smile before giving Jiraiya and Tsunade a side glance and receiving a nod from both of them. "The exam starts... NOW!"

Immediately Kakashi rose his Head band from over his eye to reveal his sharingan, making Naruto and Sakura mile knowingly.

"Finally taking us seriously, Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked smugly.

Kakashi just shrugged dismissively, knowing it would irritate her to no end. "I just think you guys might not be pushovers anymore."

The dismissive tone irked Sakura as much as he had predicted, and for once in her life, she joined Naruto with a frontal attack at Kakashi along with Naruto by throwing a hand full of throwing stars along with him at Kakashi and Ibiki while 2D and the other Band members started flipping through hand seals at top speed. Kakashi and ibiki merely dodged the shuriken being thrown at them by ducking under them. Faster than most could see, Kakashi snatched three of the shuriken from mid air and threw it back at Naruto and Sakura, who jumped out of the way, letting the shuriken fly past them and towards the band members.

Russel, already having had predicted the possibility of a counter by the two jounin, barely managed to finish his seals in time for his 'Earth Wall Jutsu' and slam his hands on the ground in time for a decently large chunk of earth to rise from the ground to cover him and the band mates, effectively stopping the three shuriken while his band mates finished the seals.

In the span of time that it had taken Russel to slam his hands on the ground and rise the earth wall, however, Ibiki sensed the opportunity without missing a beat, and sent his own two shuriken at the Naruto and Sakura while they were in mid-air, were they couldn't doge effectively. In an instant, Naruto created two shadow clones and at their sides, and used them to yank himself and Sakura to the side in mid air, narrowly escaping being impaled by the shuriken.

'_Clever boy,' _Ibiki thought with mild surprise_, 'He couldn't doge in mid air, so he used the clones to pull himself and the girl out of danger.'_

As soon as he landed, Naruto commanded his shadow clone to transform into a Windmill Shuriken, and threw it at Kakashi, who quickly parried it by slamming a kick on top of it, making the transformed shadow clone poof out of existence. Meantime, Ibiki was keeping Sakura at a bay without too much effort, though he was clearly surprised at her improvement in Taijutsu. According to the report she had read on her, she was one of the weakest in Tajuts back in her academy days, favoring setting up traps and tactical thinking.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he caught a faint whistling sound and managed to jump away from Sakura to avoid a handful of water needles from piercing his legs as the embedded themselves on the ground. Whipping his head around, he spotted the short girl with the purple hair making a hand seal and with an other eight water needles floating around her.

'_Shit.'_ Ibiki managed to think before he started dodging and blocking a double-assault from two sides, Sakura with Sakura trying to smash him with the taijutsu skills while the purple haired girl timed her water needless with deadly accuracy, aiming to incapacitate Ibiki while he faught with the pink haired Kounichi. At this point, Ibiki was frowning a little, as he kept up with the two girls. For ones so young, they definitely knew how to keep stronger opponents at a bay.

"Fire style: Fire Bullet Jutsu!" A voice called out from behind Ibiki, and his eyes widened as he realized what was coming. Hastily, he parried a punch from skura and ducked under an other water Needle that had been zipping towards his chest, and threw himself rolling to the side, barely managing to escape as three fire bullets brushed past his arm, singing it in the process. Growling a little, Ibiki shot a quick glare at the green skinned man that had cast the fire bullet justsu, before returning to his complicated dance with his three opponents.

-o-o-o-  
>Mean time, Kakashi was under a similar assault under Naruto, 2D, and Russel, With Naruto spamming Shadow clones as if they were going out of fashion while Russel kept disturbing the ground beneath his feet with his Earth jutsu and 2D joined Naruto on the frontal shadow clone assault. Even for him, Kakashi Hatake, the sheer amount of numbers of shadow clones and the disruptive techniques caused by Russel was making fighting them a bit of a challenge. Finally, he was forced to to throw a handful of Kunai, dispelling a dozen clones or so, cutting their numbers in half, to buy time to flash through hand seals to make a jutsu.<p>

"Fire style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Kakashi said loudly as he began shooting fire bullets with deadly precision, forcing Naruto, 2D, and Russel to dodge in order to avoid being barbequed into ashes by the smoldering balls of fire. Taking advantage of the distraction of his three opponents, he rushed at them, kicking Naruto and 2D with enough force to send them flying at russel, who did his best to catch them and blunting the impact, which he managed to do, but at the cost of loosing hold of his Earth-Disruption Jutsu.

Kakashi wasted no time in capitalizing on the respite he got from knocking back his attackers, and rushed to Ibiki's side to fend off his attackers, knocking back Sakura with a surprise punch to the back and sending her barreling down towards Noodle, who was forced to catch the girl and loose hold of her Water Needle Jutsus. Murdoc, seeing that they had lost the advantage, retreated towards his Noodle and Sakura while he used his fire bullet Jutsu as a cover to keep the two jounin at a bay for a few seconds while he reached them. Soon he rejoined Sakura and Noodle, only to find that they had already been joined by Naruto, 2D, and Russel.

This was obviously going to be a _long_ fight.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

_/Fast-forward: Midnight of that same day./_

It was already late, and both sides were still at a stale mate, with neither side being able to gain an upper hand on the other and both teams were bruised and battered. Despite this, it was slowly becoming clear that the two jounin were slowly but steadily changing the tide of the battle in their favor, and the six still technically 'genin' knew it and they didn't like it. Currently, both teams were facing each other at a fair distance, ready for the next round of fighting.

But for an instant, both sides of the battle stared at each other in silence, before Murdoc finally broke the sound.

"Get ready kiddies."Murdoc told the band members seriously, "We are using _that_. Naruto and me will distract them for a while with the help of Sakura, while you guys get it started. I will then join you in half way through while the other two keep them busy for the little remaining time alright? Naruto, Sakura, we only need to hold them off for a minute or two. Remember that."

There was a general nod of agreement; save for Ibiki and Kakashi, both of whom looked curious, and for Sakura that seemed confused, but she really had no choice but to agree when Ibiki and Kakashi started rushing at them. The jounin were obliviously not just going to sit and wait for whatever the genin were plotting to come and bite them in the ass. Deciding that she had no time for explanations, Sakura rushed toward the attackers along with Murdoc and Naruto.

The two sides were about to collide in a flurry of taijutsu, when suddenly and without warning, Kakashi sent a quick hand signal to Ibiki ho maerely nodded, and they both disappeared in a little puff of smoke, forcing Naruto, Sakura, and Murdoc to stop in confusion before quickly recovering and sending their senses in overdrive, trying to find the location of the two jounin who were obviously hiding and preparing for a surprise attack.

Sakura was starting to sweat bullets after ten seconds and nothing had occurred, when Naruto spoke up.

"Now would be a good time for your new jutsu bass-man!" He said with slight urgency, causing Sakura to spare a quick glance at Naruto and Murdoc, who was grinning at the idea.

"You got it kid!" Murdoc said with a toothy grin, and immediately started flipping through seals. Murdoc adjusted his stance so that his feet were spread wide apart and he was squatting down, his face looking in serious concentration while he finished the short hand seals, and his arms lifted up to his chest while he flipped through the seals. Despite needing to adjust his stance, he did it so quickly that he barely gave Ibiki, Kakashi, and Sakura enough time to vaguely wonder what his new jutsu was, before he finished his seals, holding the last seal (which turned out to be "rat") and shouted out the name of his Jutsu.

"I-see-you-motherfucker-Jutsu!" He shouted gleefully, making Sakura almost tumble down to the floor out of surprise, and Naruto start grinning like an idiot. He just frigging loved the name of that Jutsu.

A second later a small disruption flashed through the air, like a ripple of water expanding across the surface of a puddle, only that it was a lot quicker. After doing it three times in the span of a second, Murdoc closed his eyes for a second, and grinned evilly as he opened them. Quickly and silently, Murdoc pointed a finger at the ground in front off them, signifying that they were bellow ground.

Naruto nodded, and he looked like he was about to do something when Sakura took a step forward and lifted a fist. "You guys already got to show a bit of your skills," She said with a smirk, "Now its my… TURN!" Sakura's fist glowed blue a second before she smashed it down on the ground on the last word of her sentence, breaking the ground in front of her into large chunks up to twenty feet (roughly six meters) away from her.

Naruto and Murdoc gawked at her in surprise, as did a couple of very shocked jounin had been hiding under the ground about eighteen feet away from Sakura, near the edge of the lifted boulders of earth. Though it should be noted that the two key words here are "_had been"_, since now they clearly visible due to Sakura shattering of the earth around them.

"Found you, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said with a confident smile, no doubt due to the fact that she had just surprised everyone enough to have them gawking at her.

"Kakashi!" Ibiki called out, "What the hell was that?"

"She used a super precise chakra enhancement on her fists," Kakashi began to explain quickly, "to re-enforce her bones and muscles at a cellular level for an instant, and then released her chakra outwards like an explosion, using it to break the already tiny fractures and weaknesses on the ground." Kakashi explained as he kept an eye on his opponents. "Basically she has super strength for as long as she has chakra and perfect chakra-control… And by the way she seems to being conserving her chakra and focusing on us, I doubt either of those two things are happening soon."

Ibiki grunted with comprehension, suddenly understanding why all those glancing blows from the girl had hurt as much as they did, and at the same time he was damn glad he hadn't let her get a single clean hit. They had been lucky to figure it out _before_ she had actually managed to get a clean hit on them.

"Murdoc!" Russel called out urgently, "Git yo' ass in here man! We are almost ready."

Murdoc whipped his head around to spot Russel, who somehow had managed to get his drum set out and ready for action. Ibiki and Kakashi immediately followed Murdoc's gaze, but they couldn't help but to raise their eyebrows at the sight before them. Russel had pulled out what looked like some kind of drum set out of nowhere…. No, not out of nowhere… he had pulled it from a sealing scroll, if the scroll on the ground near him was any clue, Kakashi observed. Taking a look at the other two band members, he saw that they all had some kind of instrument in their hands that they had gotten from sealing scrolls. The girl had a weird looking wooden axe-thingy with strings in her hands, and the blue-haired man had short black stick with a ball on top of it.

Grinning maniacally, Murdoc barked a laugh before making a mad dash to join them, already pulling out his own sealing scroll and unraveling it.

'_This cant be good.'_ Kakashit thought with some worry, "Ibiki!" Kakashi barked out, Ibiki merely nodded and they both started sprinting to intercept Murdoc, before Sakura and Naruto appeared in their paths and attacked them with a mad flurry of taijutsu, forcing them to stop to confront them or end with a broken arm at the least.

"Hurry up guys!" Naruto called out as he started to sweat from handling the jounin, "This guys are no joke! I don't know how long we can hold them for!"

Without wasting any time, Murdoc jumped to the left of 2D and turned to face Kakashi and Ibiki, his precious blood-red Double-V Bass guitar already glistening in his hands as he smirked deviously. "Don't worry boy! Just a little longer! Twenty seconds! Give use Twenty seconds!"

"Well boys!" Murdoc said loudly and with excitement, "Lets give them a fair taste of what we can do!" Murdoc said with a glint in his eye. "Ready? Lets go with _Song 2_!"

A smirk spread across the faces of all of the members of Gorillaz as they readied their instruments and nodded in agreement. Kakashi, sensing that this could be bad for him and Ibiki, redoubled his efforts in getting past Naruto, who was trying to keep up with him with some trouble.

'_Fack!' _Naruto said grimly as he barely managed to keep Kakashi at a bay, _'Kakashi-sensei is unreasonably strong! Not only does he have a better sharingan than even Sasuke, but he is smarter than Shikamaru, has a better sense of smell and hearing that Kiba… Hell, he is even _Better _at taijutsu than Bushy brows Lee!'_

Mean time, Sakura was having a hard time herself with Ibiki. While Ibiki was not as strong as Kakashi, he was more ruthless, and he had no qualms about landing a hard strike if he needed to in order to get past her. Even with her super strength she was having quite a bit of trouble keeping up with him.

'_I hope that whatever Naruto and those four are planning works.'_ Sakura thought grimly as she sweated trying to keep up with Ibiki, _'Otherwise we might be good and truly screwed."_

0-0-0

Murdoc lifted his guitar-pick into the air like he was holding the key to the world, as did Noodle. 2D stood perfectly still, and Russels hands hovered loosely over the drums with his drumsticks in hand. Chakra began to surge from each of them, being woven and with each other and linking them in a dazzling display of light.

And then 2D opened his eyes.

0-0-0

Up on a tall tree three hundred meters away, where Jiraiya and Tsunade were sitting down eating some sandwiches and drinking sake while they observed the fight, Jiraiya suddenly bolted up right looking excited, causing Tsunade to bolt up instinctively, only to then realize that there was no reason for the old Toad sage to do bolt up like he did. Curious, Tsunade decided to inquire about it.

"Why did you bolt up like that?

Jiraiya merely turned to look at her with excitement clearly dancing in his eyes and gave her a wide smile. "You said that you would like to hear their music some time right?"

Tsunade blinked, caught off guard with the sudden and seemingly random question.  
>"Huh? I mean… yeah… What about it?" She asked curiously.<p>

Smiling even wider, Jiraiya pointed at the band members. 2D had just opened his eyes, and the hands of Russel seemed to start to slowly fall towards his drums, and the hands of Murdoc and Noodle semed to distort the air as they lowered down slowly towards their guitar strings.

"Come on Tsunade-Hime!" Jiraiya said gleefully as he took off towards the site of conflict, "Lets get a bit closer."

Tsunade just shrugged and followed him.

0-0-0

Naruto and Sakura were being pushed back. Even though they had only being fighting for fifteen seconds, the exhaustion being fighting with the jounin for hours was sslowly beginning to show on the two genin. Sakura knew she wouldn't last much longer, and then the defense would fall to Naruto, and between the two Jounin, even Naruto wouldn't last that long against them.

Just then, the rhythmic sound of a set of drums began to ring out in the training area, and soon it was joined by the sound of a guitar, and then by the sound of a bass guitar…and then, it started. _**(A/N: enter here the song: Song 2, by Blur)**_

"WHOO-Hoo!" A melodic voice sang out with passion. The chakra around the band members seemed to stir.

"WHOO-Hoo!" The air around the four band members was now positively _Pulsating _at the rhythm of their music. Tsunade was in awe off the strange and yet captivating music. More over, she couldn't believe that the tall man could sing _that_ well. Who knew that _men_ could even sing properly? Jiraiya obliviously started to hum along with the song for his part while down bellow Naruto began to smirk despite his tiring limbs and Kakashi grew positively worried. He knew that look that Naruto had. He always wore it just before a grand prank was executed or just before his victory move in a fight. With this in mind, he redoubled his efforts against his blond student, trying to get past him.

By the fourth time 2D sang out "WHOO-Hoo!" The chakra around the Bandmembers seemed to be rising up from them, and dividing itself into two columns of blue and white and silver tinged chakra.

The song then slowed down a bit, and the constructs of chakra began to take form rapidly, starting to take the shape of two massive beasts. Growing positively alarmed despite finding the music appealing, Ibiki and Kakashi pulled out all their restrains against their adversaries and began to bear down on them with all they had, making Naruto and Sakura strain like crazy to keep up.

And then the song picked up again.

As if on cue, the two chakra constructs finished taking shape instantaneously, one taking the shape of a massive gorilla and the other the shape of an equally large angry dragon.

At that point, Naruto took a quick glance behind him and screamed.

"Sakura! Come!"

Without pausing to hesitate, Sakura jumped after Naruto , who too k off running towards the band members, but not before summoning a couple of shadow clones to entertain Kakashi and Ibiki for a precious couple of seconds they could use.

They barely managed to get out the way when the two massive beasts of chakra crashed down on the two wide-eyed jounin, who could only try to dodge and block as the massive beasts attacked them restlessly. It had been a long time since Ibiki had been either surprised or scared, but these two chakra monsters definitely qualified to cause him to be surprised _and_ a bit scared even.

Finally the Song died down and the chakra monsters dissolved, leaving behind a couple of _very_ exhausted jounin. To their credit, Kakashi and Ibiki readied themselves again to fight, despite being obviously much worse for the wear than before the attack of the beasts. However, they shouldn't have bothered, since two gusts of wind swished past them with a jingling noise. Eyes opening wide, both jounins reached for their belts were they knew the bells had been, only to find they weren't there.

An instant later, Naruto and Sakura appeared in front of the exhausted band members and gave each of them their own bell. Turning around, Naruto, along with everyone else smiled and showed them their bells.

"We win! Believe it!" He shouted out proudly, despite looking like had just been ran over by a fifty ton lawnmower.

Kakashi was stunned for a second, but finally recovered enough to smile his patented eye-smile and make it official; "Team Gorillaz and Team Seven…. Pass!"

A loud cheer was hear across the training ground, as everyone celebrated their victory and Kakashi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and even Ibiki smiled at them. The Kids had done Good.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

_**AAAAAAAANNNDDDD CUUUUUUUUTTTTTT-T-T-T-T-T!**_

**Hot damn people! 22 pages! Owowowow, my fingers hurt… BUT THE CHAPTER IS DONE! HUZZA! Oh man, Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it! Drop me a review and let me know alright?**

This is free dragon, logging out!


	9. Chapter 9

**HELLO ALL! Here is the latest of my chapters for Gorillaz of the Hidden Village! Thank you all for reading so far, and thanks to a few people who contacted me through the writing of the chapter to ask and inquier about it and to try to give me ideas, you guys are awesome!**

**Now, without further ado, the moment you've all been waiting for! CHAPTERRRRRR 9!  
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"I have to say," Kakashi said to the other three shinobi in the Hokage's office, "I'm quite impressed with the progress that Sakura and Naruto have made, and the other four are just as impressive."

"I agree with Kakashi." Ibiki nodded in agreement, "The six of them were competent on all levels, and I wager that they could fight some jounin to a standstill, maybe even win if they were to get in a fight to the death."

Tsunade nodded in agreement of the assessment of the two elite jounin and turned to face Jiraiya. "We didn't get to see this fabled bloodlines of Naruto and the 2D fellow you were talking so much about."

Jiraiya looked at Tsunade blankly for a second before his brain managed to process what had just been said. "Oh...?Oh! Right. That. Well, better be glad they didn't, otherwise Kakashi and Ibiki would probably have had to go all out. Those two are no joke when using their bloodlines, they managed to injure me pretty good a few times between the two of them, and when the other four join in its they can fight me to a standstill for quite a while."

The comment was met with a shocked silence from the other three shinobi in the room. All of them, even Tsunade, were well aware of Jiraiya's strength. In fact, it wouldn't be a stretch to call him one of the top five strongest Ninja alive in all of the Ninja Nations. For anyone to be able to fight him to standstill was an achievement of quite considerable proportions.

"I see..." Tsunade said thoughtfully after a second, "By the way Jiraiya, what news do you have on the Akatsuki?"

Jiraiya's face hardened at once at the mention of the Akatsuki, making his expression of father-like pride switch into one of a battle hardened shinobi in an instant.

"The Akatsuki," Jiraiya began to report, "Have captured five of the nine tailed beasts. The ones left are the the one-tailed Racoon-dog, the two-tailed Cat, the eight-tailed Bull, and, of course, the nine-tailed fox."

Sombre expression met this statement all around the room. The Akatsuki had already gathered more than half of the Tailed Beasts, and that couldn't be good at any level.

"However," Jiraiya continued, "They can't begin the extraction of the Tailed Beasts yet."

Tsunade's head snapped up to stare up at Jiraija sharply, wordlessly demanding anna answer to the question in her mind. "Why?"

"Because they need a sort of order." Jiraiya said with a shrug. "Even with ten S rank ninja, extracting from a tailed beast from its container and controlling it for any amount of time is no joke. The amount of energy and power increases greatly with each tail that the beast has, and so does the difficulty of handling them. So basically, they need to harness the power to handle the first tailed beast, which would be the one tailed beast, and then use the power of the captured beasts to help them extract the other beasts."

"Isn't that what they were doing up until now?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"Yes and no." Jiraiy replied of handedly, "From what my reports say, I suspect they were readying the new container of the beasts. They still have to gather the energy required and put the finishing touches on whatever process it is they are using."

"How much time do we have left before they start actively extracting the biuuju?" Tsunade asked immediately. This could work to their advantage. Hell, any extra time they could buy was a much appreciated bonus.

Jiraiya closed his eyes and frowned for a minute before replying, "Well... Considering that they need to take down Gaara first, and he is surrounded by shinobi, plus the time it would take them to gather the starting chakra... I'd say we have a bit over a month at most before they attack, based on what my spy network managed to gather... It could be sooner though."

Silence reigned in the room for a moment while everyone thought on Jiraiya's words, considering the options available to them. It was a difficult and delicate problem which was only made worse by the fact that their enemy could hide easily and strike suddenly and violently. Finally, Tsunade spoke.

"Jiraiya, I don't really see what we can do right now. It seems all we can do is wait and contact Gaara about the danger of the Akatsuki."

"That's about all we can do Tsunade-Hime." Jiraiya replied with a tiered nod. "But that doesn't mean we have to sit and twiddle our fingers while we wait. We can train up a bit our students, and the four new ones can have some time to get used to Konoha and start showing us a bit of what they are capable of. They are considerably more advanced than us in terms of technology, so maybe they can think up of a trick or two that might be useful to us."

Tsunade considered this to be a sensible plan, and she had to admit that she was quite curious as to what the foursome had in store for them. According to Jiraiya, the Gorillaz were incredibly talented in more things than just music. Perhaps, just perhaps, they could come up something useful.

"At the very least," Jiraiya continued , "They could play a few songs around town. Something called a 'concert'. Apparently it can improve the morale of people and it's a good source of money. It could be useful you know? They have done it a few times in the last year in other countries, and let me tell you, they are a great distraction... They have also gotten a lot of attention, I wouldn't be surprised I they already had a few fans all over the elemental nations."

"WHAT?" Tsunade asked sharply, her glare fixed on Jiraiya, "What do you mean they attracted attention? Jiraiya, the whole _point_ of Naruto training with you _outside_ Konoha was so that he could remain hidden!"

"H-hey, HEY! Calm down Hime!" Jiraiya pleaded with panic as he noticed flames of anger start burning behind Tsunade's eyes. "Let me explain!"

"Oh, you better explain right now Jiraiya." Tsunade growled out while she glared at Jiraiya venomnously. Mean time, Kakashi and Ibiki were more than happy to keep quiet and stay clear out of the way between the two Sannin. It was widely known how violent Tsunade got when she was mad, and they didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of her chakra enhanced punches.

"AlrightAlright!" Jiraiya said quickly in an attempt to calm her down, "There were several reasons for the concerts! First, we needed to know if their music would actually be an asset to Konoha and make money! As it turns out, they are a huge hit, so now worries there. Second, if they became popular and drew attention, they would make it easier for me to sneak around and find my contacts while they do their thing. Third, if they have a head start in their fan base, that makes distributing their music much easier; and fourth, who would suspect that the Great and Mysterious Toad Sage and the Jinnchuriki of Konoha would travel with a new musical group that draws in so much attention? It was the perfect hiding spot!"

Tsunade had to blink at the reasons and thought them over for a second. She had to admit, those were some pretty solid reasons. It had been risky, but it made sense. She heaved a sigh of resignation and leaned back on her chair. "... Alright then... So, you were saying something about their music and projects?"

Jiraiya relaxed visibly when Tsunade stopped glaring at him and resumed talking. "Yeah, they say there are an incredible amount of music out there, and they are quite technologically advanced."

"Interesting..." Kakashi said thoughtfully once he was sure Tsunade wasn't about to start punching the living crap out of people, "I am curious as to what else the four of them can play... I might have been cursing that music jutsu they used to bring those chakra beasts out, but I was fairly aware of the music they were was quite impressive. I wouldn't mind hearing more of it... While I'm not being attacked by a pair of monsters preferably."

Ibiki nodded in agreement and added his two cents to the conversation, "I've never seen instruments like the ones they were using. But their sound in harmony is quite... Appealing. Addicting even."

"Oh, you have no idea!" Jiraija said with a face splitting grin, "Trust me Ibiki, these kids are nothing like you've ever heard. You only got a taste of it! Naruto and me turned into their first fans after listening to three songs!" Jiraiya chuckled at the memory.

Tsunade would have usually being doubtful about the fact that anyone could posses enough talent to make Jiraiya AND Naruto to turn into sworn music fans, but considering that she had caught herself several times humming along to the song she had heard them play, it probably wasn't so crazy to suggest that.

Tsunade sighed once again and rubbed her temples as she tried to dispel the incoming headache that was starting to form and looked up at the rest of the shinobi in the room. If there was something that she disliked about talking about business with Jiraiya was the fact that half of the time he would give her headaches.

"Alright then..." She said tiredly. She really wanted a drink right now. "Jiraiya, Kakashi, you two are assigned to help out the Gorillaz and Naruto with their projects. Tell them that they have to start working on projects that could give us an edge over other villages. They will have access to our resources and a workshop to start their projects, however they need to get moving. Kakashi, I expect you to also train Naruto and Sakura and the four band members. In fact, you and the six of them will form a new experimental team. Kakashi, from now on you are the leader of the experimental team codenamed 'Ghost'. Ibiki, you may go back to your regular job, but keep in mind that Murdoc might be joining you at some point to demonstrate his interrogation and torture skills. That is all. Dismissed."

There was a chorus of "Hai" and the ninjas dispersed.

0-0-0-0-0

"It's the music that we choose, It's the music that we choose..." Deidara sang/muttered to himself as he absentmindedly bobbed his head to an invisible rhythm while he sat on a couch in the Akatsuki hiddeout. The song had been stuck in his head since a week ago, when he and Sasori had been in the Wind Country heard that new band play. It had been by chance that he had caught sight of a lone poster in a fence that said:

"Grand Event! Come and see the very first Concert in the Village! What I a concert? It's a musical show presented by master artists of the craft known as music! Starring the super group Gorillaz! Free only for today, at Center Square Park, show starts at 3:00 PM..."

The poster continued to rant on for a while longer, but Deidara had already stopped reading and had torn the poster off the wall and shown it to Sasori. After a spending a good ten minutes arguing with each other, they decide to go check what this so called "Master Artists" could do. After all, art was their life. Maybe they could find some inspiration for their own art.

Deidra smiled a little as he kept humming the song to himself at the memory. Never in his life had he cheered and called with for an encore with more enthusiasm in his life than he had in that concert... And never had he seen Sasori go so bat-shit crazy with excitement. Who knew that the old bastard would go as far as to cry in excitement? That was certainly something that he was going to keep in the back of his brain under the "Blackmail" files.

They were both now proud Gorillaz fans through and through.

Nearby, Sasori himself was drumming his fingers along to the beat of "Rehash" as he sketched ideas for secret mechanisms for his puppets. He found very surprising how addicting the music he had ward a week ago was, but according to the announcement by the lead singer after the concert had finished, the band would be soon releasing their album in casets for people to buy. Sasori had been watching for any signs of the band's album release in the media like a hawk, and so was Deidara. They were hell bent on getting their own copy of the Gorillaz album.

"What up bitches?" a voice suddenly rang out loudly as the door to the communal room of the Akatsuki hiddeout burst open, revealing that it was Hidan, followed by his partner, who had just shouted and kicked the door open. Hidan then processed to enter the room with exagerated swagger and flop down on the opposite end of the couch in which Deidra was sitting with slight irritation due to the occultist messing up the beat of the song in his head. "Long time no see."

"Not long enough... Yeah..." Deidara muttered to himself with irritation.

"Evening Hiddan." Sasori replied curtly, evidently not appreciating Hidan's loud introduction to the room. "You are early for once."

"Thats because this Craker here," Hidan said as he pointed with his thumb at his partner over his shoulder, "Dragged my ass across the whole damn Lightning Country just to get here in time. I didn't even get to make as many sacrifices to Yashin as I usually do!" Hidan said as he puffed up with indignation before turning to fix his partner with an offended glare, "Not cool man. Not cool."

His partner merely glanced at him and shrugged. "Time is money. I like money."

"Fuck you, Kakuzu. Fuck. You." Hidan grumbled out, clearly not appeased by his partner's explanation.

Kakuzu merely glanced at Hidan and shrugged before he turned on his heel and sitting on an old recliner chair made of leather, obviously disregarding his partner's insult completely, which resulted in Hidan getting even more displeased with his partner and Deidara snickering at Hidan's misfortune. He had never had any love for the Demon worshiper, and he enjoyed every bit of misfortune that befell him. Naturally, Hidan had made it clear he felt the same way about him.

"What are _you_ laughing at, fuck face? Did a boy tell you he had a crush on you?" Hidan asked mockingly, smirking sadistically when Deidara's snickering was replaced with a growl of irritation. He loved pissing off Deidara just as much as Deidara liked to piss him off.

"For your information, Hidan-_chan_," Deidara said with disdain, irritating Hidan with the suffix as he did so, "I am recalling in my mind the fruits of our latest work trip to the wind country."

Hidan snorted with clear disregard for Deidara's response. He already knew about Deidara'stwisted idea of art, which basically could be summed up in two words: "Shape" and "Boom". -_Weirdo_.- Hidan thought, not pausing to realise how ironic that statement was coming from him.

"What did you do now, shit-face? Blow up the Center Square of some city?" Hiddan asked with amusement, " You know that Pein said to keep off the radar until we are done the preparations. He is going to bust your ass as soon as he finds out, retard." Just the thought of Deidara getting his butt handed to him in a silver platter made Hidan smile. If it did happen, he was going to watch and enjoy every minute of it.

"As much as I would have loved exhibiting my art to the masses," Deidara sniffed at Hidan, "I am not that stupid, yeah. I was talking about a new form of art that Sasori and I have encountered. It was brilliant..." Deidara began to recount the event with a far away look as he talked, as if recalling a wonderous dream from a time not so long ago. Hidan, for his part, was only mildly curious as to what could have made the girly-looking man actually shut up about _his_ 'art' for once, and Kakuzu was listening with some curiosity while Sasori had come to sit in an other armchair and was looking far away into space with a similar look to the one Deidara was wearing.

"... Well, what about it?" Kakuzu asked after a minute of silence, legitimately curious as to what could make Sasori and Deidara stop arguing for a whole five minutes about the 'true form of art' like they always did. It must have really been something if it had managed that much.

"Music..." Was the simultaneous response from both Deidara and Sasori, still looking far away in space with eyes half glazed, causing Hidan's and Kakuzu's eyebrows to shoot up with surprise.

"Music?" they both exclaimed aloud in surprise. Since when were _these_ two music lovers? Hell, they were surprised they even knew the word 'music', let alone consider it an art or like it.

"Yeah..." Deidara said with a distant look in his eyes, "It was magnificent,-"

"Inspiring,-" Sasori added.

"Ehteral,-"

"Awe inspiring,-"

"Beautiful,-"

"Eternal,-"

"Instantaneous,-"

By now Hidan and Kakuzu were actually starting to get disturbed by the fact that Sasori and Deidara were actually agreeing so much on something. Kakuzu even tried to do a silent "Kai" Genjutsu release to see if he was just caught under an allusion, but apparently it was not so because Deidara and Sasori were still there and still agreeing on something. He was shocked.

"Bah, you bastards are exaggerating." Hidan finally said aloud. He was convinced that those two had finally gone nutcase-bannanas. The music around the elemental Nations was nothing special or interesting really. Deidara must have detonated a bomb on their heads by accident or something.

"You don't understand." Deidara said dismissively, with pity even, which both disturbed and irritated Hidan to no end. "You weren't there. How _could_ you understand? The explosive sound of the drums, the screaming of the guitars, the soulful voice of the keyboards,-!"

"The depth of the lyrics," Sasori continued for Deidara, "The voice of the singer which could have rivaled an angel's, the passion, the style, the sweet harmony of sound as it weaves into music of the highest level~!"

"And the visuals!" Deidara said with excitement, "The flashing lights, the perfectly timed fires and explosions, the symphony of color and sound that melded together to create a whole new form of art in an instant~!"

"And yet it lasts eternal within the people it touches!" Sasori said with equal excitement, "An eternal art within the span of an instant!"

By now Kakuzu and Hidan were both, seriously intrigued and seriously creeped out at the other two Akatsuki members. First they stop fighting, then they agree on something, and now they are talking like poets. What next? A real dragon is going to come and bite them in the ass?

"Pft, whatever." Hidan said as he tried to act dismissively. That would get Deidara pissed. "I bet they sound like shit and your ears are just rotten Girly-boy."

Hudan smirked que the talk between Deidara and Sasori stopped and they both turned to look at him. Deidara looked _pissed_, and that made Hidan smirk. But not for long.

"Bitch, Ima blow you up!" Deidara shouted as he jumped to his feet.

"Try it, Fucker!" Hidan snarled back without missing a beat, already standing too. "You can't kill me!"

"Maybe not by himself he can't," Sasori said dangerously as he suddenly appeared besides Deidara, "But I wonder how your pissy ability would do against two of us."

Bewildered, Hidan's snarl became an expression of disbelief. Since when did the two of them cooperate? Snapping himself out of his own thoughts, Hidan turned his head around wildly to find his partner still in his armchair, sitting back and watching the espectacle while he drinkers some tea.

"What the Hell are you doing!" Hidan shouted at him, "Back me up!"

Kakuzu looked at him, then at Deidara and Sasori, and back to him.

"No." He answered simply before sipping his tea.

"What the HELL man!" Hidan roared in disbelief, "What do yah mean 'NO'?"

"The re is nothing in it for me." Kakuzu replied simply.

Hidan's face fell for a second, before an idea hit him. "You Bastard, without me around you won't be able to take as many bounties and you'll lose a hell of a lot of money if that happens!"

It worked like magic.

In an instant Kakuzu was standing beside him and looking mighty determined to help out if things started to go bad.

Hidan, for his part, was both pissed and relieved with his partner. -_Kakuzu, you fucking greedy son of a bastarding mother fu~_!-

Hidan's mental rant was interrupted when the door to the room opened again, and Kisame and Itachi walked in the room with raised eyebrows upon seeing them ready to go at eachothers throats.

"The Hell?" Kisame asked with curiosity.

"What's going on here?" Itachi asked with his patented flat toned voice.

The four would-be fighters looked at eachother wearily and they slowly backed off. They didn't really want to risk having to fight Kisame AND Itachi besides their original two opponents. Fighting four Akatsuki members at once was too much for either of the pairs, and both sides much preferred to stay alive than to be dead.

"Just a small... Disagreement." Kakuzu said diplomatically, before everyone returned to their seats.

Kisame and Itachi just looked at eachother and shrugged.

0-0-0-0-0

_-/_A few days latter..._/-_

"Yo, Mudz!" Russel called out from bellow a working bench, "Pass me the size three wrench."

"Hang on a sec tubby boy! I just need... to..." Murdoc called back at him from behind a tarp on the same object the Russel was working on, his voice straining with effort due to some unseen action. A second later there was a squeaking noice of metal forcing itself on oiled metal, followed by an "Umpf" from Murdoc. "HA! Take _that_ you bloody piece of metal." Murdoc said in triumph at some unseen piece of machinery before closing the lid and stepping out from the cover of the white tarp.

"Great for you," Russel said with a sarcastic undertone, "Now, wrench!"

"Yeah, Yeah," Murdoc said dismissively as as he rummaged around a tool box, "Keep your pants on Tubs, I'm getting it."

"Here it is!" Murdoc exclaimed, pulling out a medium sized wrench and walking over to place it on Russels awaiting outstretched hand.

"Thanks." Russel replied shortly as he continued to work on the first Gorillaz project. "I'm still surprised they managed to build so many parts for us in a few days."

Murdoc snorted. "Don't be. We had to build the engine and the the more intricate technological things ourselves."

"Man, they got us all the materials in three days." Russel retorted, "THAT is fast, even if the place is full of ninjas."

"Whatever... Where are Face-ache and Noodle anyways?"

"Working on building and programming all the chips and software we need for this baby right here." Russel replied, "... And making a couple decent sound systems. They still use casets around here, and their music players are not exactly great. Other than that, they are also trying to make some good speakers for the future concerts and getting what they can to start making a basic recording studio."

"Good. At least they are working." Murdoc said with a satisfied nod, leaning on the side of the tarp and against whatever it was that was behind it.

"Yeah, they are." Russel said as he slid out from under the tarp and stood up, "And you should too. Come on."

"Yeah, yeah... Whatever..." Murdoc grumbled While he pushed himself off whatever was bellow the tarp, and going back to the tool box. They had work to do.

0-0-0

Meantime, 2D and Noodle were in their new apartment next door to Naruto's own apartment, working on their own projects. 2D had already finished building the chips that they needed for the big project that Russel and Murdoc were working on, and Noodle was placing the finishing touches on the program that would be used on those very same chips in order to have them working perfectly for what they needed to do. She was glad she had brought her laptop, seeing as computers did not exist here, otherwise she and 2D would have had to build one from scratch, and THAT would have been a real pain. Probably would have taken a week or two to make at least.

Noodle gave the computer a final click and disconnected the wires that connected it to the palm sized computer chip that would act as the controller for all the electrical functions of 'Project Racer', as Murdoc had dubbed it, save for the ignition, which would be activated manually.

She stretched her arms upwards with a slight smile and a content sigh. She felt so much more comfortable after sleeping in an apartment rather than the cheap motels or small tents in the forest that they had had to use for the past two and a half years. In those two and a half years, where beds were few and far in between, she had truly learned to appreciate the value of a good bed and a decent pillow.

Standing up, she made her way across the room, where 2D was haunches over a large piece of silicone and some homemade parlants and a few tools as he carefully sottered together small pieces of metal together, sending small showeres of sparks flying short distances every now and then.

"Hey 2D," Noodle called out to him as she came to stand just behind him, "how are those speakers coming along?"

2D put down the wielding tool and a long needle instrument, and turned his head towards her, lifting a pair welding goggles as he did so. "Pretty good actually," He replied with a grin, "this one should be done soon. What about your programming?"

"Done," Noodle chirped out happily, "It didn't take too long, it's pretty basic as far as electronics go. A few on-off commands and just a bit of restructuring to your work and it was done." She said in a dismissive manner, "By the way, you never told me where you learned to make things like chips and amplifiers and all that."

"Oh, that?" he replied as he took of his working leather gloves, "Remember that I told you that my dad used to own a music shop?"

"Yeah, I do," Noodle said curiously, "It sold mostly keyboard related stuff right? Pianos, organs, melodicas, piano guitars, and stuff like that, right?"

"Yep, that's right," 2D nodded, "It also repaired them and customized them. My dad taught me everything he knew about how to make and repair them, and he knew a lot." 2D recalled, "He expected me to know everything about our keyboards, including how to make all instruments in the shop from scratch, from the polishing of the wood and down to even making the chips of the electric keyboards... It made my head hurt many times." 2D groaned slightly as he recalled the many hours he spent learning about his fathers wares. It had taken him _years_ to reach the point were his father was satisfied with his knowledge and skill.

"Wow." Noodle replied with surprise and new found respect for the blue- haired man. "Intense."

"Oh yeah." 2D replied with a smirk, "Who knew that all that training would come so handy some day outside a music shop?"

"Not me!" Noodle said with a laugh. "Ready for lunch?"

"Sure!" 2D stood up and stretched. "Mmmm... Ahhh... That's better. Alright, where too?"

"Let's see what we can find." Noodle said with a shrug before the two of them were out the door.

0-0-0-0-0

An explosion resounded in Konoha's Training Area 17, startling the birds that resided in the forest that surrounded it and sending them flying away in panic.

"Son of a- FAK!" Naruto shouted as dodged the side as an smoldering ball of fire crashed on the exact location were he had been standing a moment ago, leaving a ten foot wide patch of charcoal-black on the dirt in its wake.

"Wake up kit!" A red two-tailed fox the size of a lion barked out at him, "The cyclops isn't going to let up just yet!"

As if to prove the words of the fox correct, Kakashi threw a handful of shuriken towards Naruto and the fox, forcing them to doge away, with Naruto swearing up a storm as one of the projectiles tore up a gash along the sleeve of his shirt.

"Hey! This is one of my few orange shirts Baka-sensei! (Baka-sensei=stupid teacher)" Naruto shouted at his mentor angrily while he tried to watch for any other tricks that his mentor would try to pull on him.

What really ticked him off though, was the fact that he could almost swear that the cyclops was laughing at him behind his face mask. And one thing that Naruto hated, was being laughed at when he was being serious.

"Focus Naruto!" His sensei shouted back at him. To Naruto's credit, Kakashi had revealed his Sharingan since the beginning of the fight, which raised the difficulty level of the fight to a level on par with fighting one Akatsuki member, so the fact that Naruto hadn't been knocked out after fighting with Kakashi for an hour was a very good sign... However, neither was he winning.

Naruto grumbled but did as he was told, creating a few shadow clones without using seals and rushed with them and the Kyuuby towards Kakashi.

Given that Naruto could not use the power of the Kyuubi directly to power up as part of the test, he knew that this was going to be a long and tiring fight.

And a painful one too.

0-0-0-0-0

-/A week later.../-

"Finally!" Murdoc shouted out gleefully, "It is done!" Murdoc was beyond happy to have his project completed, which was obvious to everyone in the room by the way he rubbed his hands together and chuckled in anticipation.

Russel looked at their master piece and had to smile widely. This had been the main project of the band for about a week and a half and now it was completed. It was strong, it was rugged, it was fast, it was efficient, and it was like nothing this world had ever seen before. It was magnificent.

"Nice work bro!" A translucent blur ghost with a baseball cap commented as he floated beside Russel, "It looks even better than the last one."

Russel barked a short but jolly laugh and responded to his dead friend. "That's 'cause we added a little turret on top of it, Dell." Russel said with a chuckle.

"Little my ass," Dell responded with a snort, "that thing that you are calling a 'little turret' has got to be three feet long... At least." Dell concluded in a matterifactly manner.

"As far as guns go," Murdoc said, "Three feet ain't that long."

"Not in OUR world." Dell agreed, "But here... Here this is pretty massive."

"Details, details," Murdoc said dissmively with a careless hand-gesture, "Don't worry about them right now, Dell."

Dell snorted and crossed his arms but smiled all the same. He had to admit, it _did_ look pretty bad ass.

"So when are we taking it for a test drive?" Dell wondered aloud.

"After our first concert." Murdoc responded assertively, "Which should be soon... Noodle and Two Dents are putting up the posters and handing out fliers, right?"

"That's right," Russel nodded in confirmation, "They've been at it for the last three days... I still don't understand _how_ they finished the recording studio within a week, plus the speakers, amplifiers, and the sound systems, AND the chips for this project too."

Murdoc shrugged dismissively, "They have always been quick. As long as they get it done, frankly, I don't give a damn how they do it. All I care about right now is that the concert should be the buzz around town by now."

"Typical," Russel said while rolling his eyes at the green man. "Anyways, let's go. Kakashi wants us to do some training before the concert."

"Yeah, Yeah. I know." Murdoc grumbled.

0-0-0

As predicted, all around Konoha the word of the novelty known as a "Concert" had spread. It was hard not to be at least curious about it. Konoha, while strong, did not surpass a population of even sixty or seventy thousand people, and as such, novelties were few and far in between. Which was the reason that the word of the concert had spread around town faster than a wildfire... Well, that and the fact that posters had been posted strategically on all public social gathering locations in the Village. There wasn't a single park, cafe, or market in Konoha that did not have a poster advertising the first Concert to ever to occur in Konoha... Plus, the poster said that this was the one time it would be free. Who didn't like free stuff?

In short, everyone was gossiping about the concert.

And at the heart of all the gossip, the queen teenage gossip queen of Konoha, better known as Ino, relished the new source of gossip, and she was in no small part responsible for helping spread the word about the concert.

Speaking of Ino, she was currently at a cafe with Hinata, Sakura, and Tenten, eagerly chattering away with her friends.

"So did you guys hear anything new about this concert thing?" Ino inquired.

"Not a word." Tenten replied with a bit of a frown.

"Just the same as always." Hinata agreed.

"I don't know either." Sakura added, "I haven't seen heads or tails of them outside of training, and they won't give me any details when I _do_ manage to ask during training."

Ino and the other girls sighed in disappointment. Sakura often was their source of intel when it came to the band members, providing them with details about them from when she trained together with them and Naruto, who, surprisingly, was actually catching the attention of quite a few girls as of lately. Who knew that the previously bratty and loud-mouth orange energy ball would actually become... Hot?

"Well... Have you ever heard their music?" Ino asked uncertainly. She was determined to learn _something_ new about the band.

"Yup!" Sakura chirped with a smile.

" Well? How was it?" Tenten asked encouragingly.

"Eh... Well, I don't remember completely..." Sakura responded, earning a frown from her friends before she rushed to explain, "Because we were training alright? Anyways, I only heard one song, but the music was... Unbelievable."

"In a good way?" Tenten asked curiously as she leaned forwards.

"In a good way of course." Sakura replied, "Nothing like a had ever heard before. It was pretty exciting, it's like I could feel their music in my bones!"

Subconsciously, all the girls leaned forward on the table, wordlessly demanding all of the details from Sakura, who happily obliged them by recalling the event and doing her best to explain what it was like to be there.

Needless to say that the other three girls were buzzing with excitement by the end of the explanation and determined to get the best spot in the park to watch the band.

"Wow!" Ino finally commented, "Sounds like this concert thing is going to be good then!"

"Doesn't it?" Tenten agreed with her, "I wonder what songs they are going to play..."

"That's a secret Tenten," A familiar male voice said behind her, causing the group of gird to turn their heads towards the source of the voice, "You'll just have to go to find out what they have in store for you."

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked curiously. As far as she knew, Naruto wasn't into cafes or things like that. He was into big meals, ramen, training, and more Ramen.

"I'm just waiting for someone." Naruto replied offhandedly as he leaned his shoulder against a nearby wall and crossed his arms and smiled. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh, you know..." Sakura began to say, before being interrupted by Ino.

"Just talking. Want to join us?" Ino replied quickly in a flirtatious manner, something that everyone at the table, save for Naruto, noticed. Of course, this made Hinata and, surprisingly, Tenten glare at their blond friend while Sakura looked at her with shock. Ino? Flirting with... Naruto? Was she dreaming or did Ino get hit in the head before coming to meet them? Hell, since when had Ino even _noticed_ her hyperactive team mate?

While Sakura wrecked her brains trying to figure out what was wrong with Ino, Naruto, as thick-headed and blissfully oblivious as always, merely smiled and accepted the offer without even suspecting that Ino was flirting with him.

"Thanks Ino, I think I -"

"Oh you can seat here Naruto," Tenten interrupted him as she patted a seat between her and Hinata. That would show Ino who had the upper hand!

Blinking in confusion for a second before returning the smile to Tenten, he nodded and sat down between Tenten and a quickly blushing Hinata, completely missing the quick glares that were exchanged between Tenten and Ino while he wasn't looking. By the time he looked back up at the girls, they were both smiling sweetly at him as if nothing had occurred.

"So who are you waiting for?" Ten asked innocently as she leaned against Naruto slightly, causing Ino's smile to strain slightly as she tried to avoid glaring daggers at Tenten.

Naruto, still oblivious to the invisible three-way war between Tenten, Ino, and Hinata, smiled at Tenten and replied, "Ah! That's right, I am waiting for 2D and Noodle to help them set up the stage for tonight."

Instantly, the eyes of all the girl lit up. Naruto had spent the most time with the band members, an he was helping them set up the stage. Perhaps he knew more about the mysterious band than they did... And maybe he could get them some especial seats.

"H-h-hey N-Naruto..."Hinata stuttered, gathering her willpower to address Naruto directly, something that shocked the other three girls despite being able to mask most of their surprise, "I was... Umm... Wondering if you could help us get some spots for the concert?"

Naruto looked at her with slight surprise for a second before giving her a wide and toothy smile that made her blush seven colors of red, but somehow she managed to contain her fainting habit.

"Sure! I was going to offer you some spots actually." He replied happily, "I want all my friends to get a good look at the show!" Naruto said sincerely.

The other girls immediately jumped into the conversation, inquiring about the band and concert at speeds that surprised even Naruto. For his part, Naruto did his best to avoid giving too much information about the concert, which proved to be a challenge since the girls, particularly Ino, we're very dexterous in the art of talking and gossiping. Still, he managed to withhold the most of it.

"Naruto! There you are!" a voice called behind him, and he sighed in relief. Whoever it was, had saved him from the bombardment of questions from the four girls. Turning his head quickly, he aught sight of of the people he had been waiting for.

"Hey 2D! What's up Noodle?" Naruto asked with an slightly over cheerful voice, which betrayed his relief at seeing them.

"Nothing much," 2D reapplied with a smile as he sat down on a table for two next to Naruto's table, "Except that I am still missing a few lines for our new song." 2D responded with a frown. They had the beat and the sound ready. All he was missing was a few lines and their new song could make it's debut in tonight's concert.

"He is being fuzzing over it all week." Noodle commented, "He wants to have the song make its debut here in Konoha in the very first concert."

"Well, why don't you wing it?" Naruto asked curiously.

Sakura rolled her eyes and and answered him before anyone else. "Naruto, just because you are always making it up as you go along in the battle field it doesn't mean that you can do it in a song."

2D's ears perked up, and only Noodle noticed the change in her bandmate's eyes. She knew those eyes. Those were the eyes he always wore when something clicked in his brain perfectly. In those dark eyes of absolute blackness a little flame would lit itself when inspiration would strike him. And she knew by now that those eyes prophesied a song or idea of fantastic proportions. All their greatest hits had come from the magic that occured in his mind when the flames of those black eyes flared to life. She allowed herself to smile softly and watch.

"I was just saying do what sounds natural." Naruto complained.

"N-N-Naruto is right," Hinata replied shily, "There was a time when he pretended to be happy all the time, but then he stopped that and started being himself and he became happier. M-M-Maybe that could translate to the song if 2D-san does it."

Noodle watched as the spark in 2D's eyes began to grow slowly with these words.

"Yeah," Tenten allowed, "Naruto has always being his own person I guess. I mean, all the people that stared at him and told him to change how he dressed and he didn't listen." Tenten said teasingly to Naruto.

"True," Ino stated with a nod, "Naruto is very tenacious. Sometimes I wonder if people even know him by name sometimes though... You know, the adults calling him names and stuff. But hey, you turned up pretty good still." Ino concluded, flirtariously sending Naruto a wink which he received with a smile.

By now 2D's were practically Burning with the flames of inspiration. And now Noodle allowed herself to give him a full blown smile. It was guaranteed now. The song's lyrics would be perfect. She knew for a fact that 2D wanted to dedicate the song to a certain someone for being his friend and helping them out. And now he had it. He had the perfect lyrics.

Standing up quickly, 2D smiled at the girls and Naruto and promptly excused himself, and left the establishment in quick and long strides with Noodle at his heels, leaving the girls and Naruto looking very confused.

"Soooo... " Ino finally said at Naruto after a moment, "about those reserved spots you were talking about..."

"Oh yeah!" Naruto replied, and began to explain.

0-0-0

-/Later that day: 7:30 PM/-

The large park of Konoha, otherwise known as Central Park, was starting to come to life as people started readying themselves for the spectacle. On the North Corner of the park, a new large stage made of wood stood, littered with some wires and amplifiers while the band members tried to put it all together and teated the connections with the help of Jiraiya and Naruto. Oddly enough, a large white cloth acted as the back wall of the stage, but people in general paid no mind to it, assuming that it must have been placed instead of a wall due to the short tome notice or something along those lines.

On the other hand, the band members were pleasantly surprised by the amount of people that had showed up so far. Even if no more showed up it would make for a decently sized concert. Technically, the concert itself did not start until eight thirty at night, but, surprisingly, the large park was already a third full, which roughly amounted to having seven hundred people or so.

That said, people were still flowing into the park, and by the looks of it, they were going to have a full house this time.

"Hey guys!" a feminine voice called out at the Band members and Naruto and Jiraiya, "What's- hey!"

Turning their heads to find the source of the voice, the six friends found Sakura along with Hinata, Tenten, and Ino and their teams. That and they were being blocked by a few hired chunin that were acting as part of the security team, and Sakura and Ino were starting to look pissed at them for not letting them through to the stage.

"It's alright guys," Naruto called out to the chunnin, "They are the ones I told you about."

The hired ninja glanced at Naruto and then at Juraiya, who confirmed his godson's words with a nod, and then nodded and took a set to the side, allowing Naruto's friends through, followed by Teuchi and Ayane who brought up the rear of their small procession.

"Glad you guys could make it!" Naruto spoke up with a smile, rushing to meet his special guests.

"We almost didn't." Kiba replied with a smile of his own, receiving a bark of agreement from his dog and mount Akamaru. Naruto STILL didn't know how Kiba had made that little puppy dog from three years ago grow to the size of a small horse or a large pony. He would have to ask him about it some day.

"Really?" Naruto said with surprise, "we still have about forty five minutes before it starts."

Kiba snorted and nodes with his head towards the girls of the group, "Have you ever seen how long it takes a woman to get ready to go out? We almost had to burn down their homes to get them to hurry up."

Naruto barked a laugh along with Kiba while the four girls glared at Kiba and the other team members silently agreed with Kiba, but choosing to keep quiet about it, just in case the girls decided to take revenge in the near future.

"Anyways!" Naruto said cheerily after he had talked for a while with his guests, "follow me, I'll show you to the place we reserved for us."

"Us?" Sakura asked curiously, "So there are more coming?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto said in a matter fact maner as he began to guide them down the stage, "It's not just us, Kakashi-senseI is coming, and Baa-chan, and Bushy-brows-Sensei, and Kurenai, and Asuma, and Shizune, and even Ibiki. Oh! And Iruka-sensei and Anko." Naruto listed the remaining guests.

"Soooo..." Ino asked with a raised eyebrow, "Basically everyone that you know that is important to you in this village is there?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Naruto said awkwardly smiling, "except for the Konahamru troop. Those guys are on their first patrol mission with their sensei."

"Anyways!" Naruto said finally with a smile, "here we are."

Naruto showed them to the very front of the area just in front of the stage, which was fences off by some thick and silky red rope that was being held up by brass poles of roughly three feet in height. The area was furnished with just enough cushioned seats for all the guests plus Naruto and Jiraiya, though the chairs were all lined up side by side. Added to that, the rectangular area was about three or four feet closer to the stage than the short mesh wire fence that was put up for the regular guests, so that they would the best close up vie of the band. That, plus the fact that the metallic wire fence was lined up with security team members in regular intervals of ten feet, it made for a fairly nice but controlled setting.

A security guard unclipped the silky red rope from the brassy pole for them and the entered the VIP area of the concert grounds. Everyone selected their own seat and sat down to talk as they waited for the other guests to arrive and for the concert to start.

They didn't have to wait long.

Within minutes the rest of the guests began to arrive, and soon the whole VIP area was full, and ten minutes later the whole park was filled up as well, numbering around twenty-one hundred people that had showed up for the concert.

By then the stage was set and the lights had been set to shine a dim light on the stage while the Band-members finished getting ready in the back of the stage. The crowd soon began to quiet down in curiosity and expectation as the lights began to dim until the only lights shining were the lights of the Moon, Stars, and the houses that sorounded the park. A moment later the stage lights came back on at full blast, shining bright white light upon the stage and the Gorillaz band members, who had expertly slipped into their positions in the four second gap of darkness, standing there as if they had been there all along, with 2D at the forefront of the diamond formation, with Noodle and and Murdoc standing a little behind him to his left and right with their guitars at the ready, and Russel sitting with his drums in a small platform right behind him.

As if on cue, the crowd grew silent, waiting for the band members to make the first move. After letting the tension build for a second or two, 2D took a step forward and looked straight at the crowd, allowing them to see his unique eyes, drawing a quiet murmur of shock before he smiled at them and addressed them directly.

"Welcome! Welcome all to Konoha's very first Grand Concert!" He said loudly and with out shame, words flowing confidently out of his mouth as he spoke with practiced ease, "I am 2D, and these are my band mates ," 2D motioned with his hand at his three companions on the stage as he began to address them, picking up the interest of the crowd with his words, "Ladies and Gentlemen! I present you, Murdoc the Bass Slayer!" Murdoc too two steps forward with an almost arrogant strut and a wide grin, and brought down his hand on his guitar, making the guitar ring with a clear and powerful note, which excited the crowd into some whistling and clapping, "Noodle the Axe Princes!" Noodle smiled and took a step forward, her guitar (which was ironically shaped like a large double-sided axe) glistening in her hand as she played a chord that resounded of confidence and gentleness at the same time, causing the crowd to cheer, "Russel the Great!" Russel stood up briefly and then played a short and sophisticated drum solo that resounded with strength, and once more the crowd egan to cheer, "and lastly, me, 2D Dragon Voice." 2D said in a sweet singsong voice and with a bow, making the crowd positively excited for the actual concert to start.

"Ladies and gentlemen," 2D continued after the cheering had died down some, "The concert start now!" The crowd met 2D's words with a roar of approval, ready to see what the ban had in store for them, "Our first number is called... Clint Eastwood!"

On cue, the lights dimmed again and turned into a a soft Golden color, and focused on Russel as he started up the song with his drums. Then Noodle and Murdoc jumped in as well, lights shining upon them with a toned down purple and red respectively. Finally, a blue light shone on 2D and he began to sing.

0-0-0

An hour and a half later, the crowd was euphoric from all the music, and several had tears coming down their face. Many aman that were present at the concert would not be ashamed to say they cried in it. Amongst some of those men you could find Gai and Lee, the bushy brow teacher-apprentice duo, along with Jiraiya. Many of the crowd would have a hoarse voice for a few days, but at the moment they couldn't care less. If it was possible to have an orgasm with just the sound of music, everyone in the crowd was having one.

Finally the song "Feel Good Inc." concluded, and there was a roaring cheer from the crowd, but quickly ended when 2D raised his hands in a n appeasing manner, signifying he had something to say.

"You've been a wonderful crowd!" 2D said loudly with his microphone, "So! Allow us to reward you with our newest song!" A renewed roar of approval came from the crowd in response, whistles and stomping of feet emphasizing their eagerness. 2D smiled widely, and continued, "This one was inspired by a certain someone that has helped us out since we got here. Naruto! You can thank those girls for helping me come up with some of the lyrics too. Anyways, This is for you, as a little 'thank you' from us!" The crowd, while shocked at the fact that the song was dedicated at Naruto of all people, cheered none the less and with just as much vigor as before.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Our final number: Energy!" 2D shouted out with passion and glee, drawing what was possibly the loudest cheer from the crowd yet.

On cue, the lights of the stage dimmed and switched into a swirling mass of oranges and reds and purples. (A/N: start up the song "Energy" by Shinedown). The drums and guitars started out with determination and fire, and white tarp behind them came to life again, showing close ups of the band as they played their music.

_"YOU make it up as you go along,  
>WHY pretend to be something that you are not,<br>I believe in you and always will  
>Ever since you told me you are for reals,<br>Inside! Emotional mood swings soon collide,  
>Now! Gather up all your tenacity,<br>Take my hand 'cause I'm Setting you Free!_

_Who cares who's there to stare  
>And tell you how to look?<br>I'm not even sure they know you by Name!  
>Who cares who's there to share<br>What they think of you?  
>Everybody here plays the same fucking game!<em>

_Alright, Alright, Alright!  
>You are such an energy!<br>Alright, Alright, Alright!  
>You are such an energy!<br>Let me see your fire,  
>put your fist up in the air!"<em>

The crowd cheered and brought their hands up as fist into the air as one, and no one did it with more energy than Naruto.

_"Alive! That's how I want you to feel tonight,  
>Live! You are only here once and do it well,<br>Find! Your own way to rise up and Give them Hell!  
>There is no reason to wonder if you should Go!,<br>Tell them you can't be bought or sold  
>Break! Your silence and tell them<br>Who you are  
>'Cause they are witness to a shoring star!<em>

_Who cares who's there to stare  
>And tell you how to look?<br>I'm not even sure they know you by Name!  
>Who cares who's there to share<br>What they think of you?  
>Everybody here plays the same fucking game!<em>

_Alright, Alright, Alright!  
>You are such an energy!<br>Alright, Alright, Alright!  
>You are such an energy!<br>Let me see your fire,  
>put your fist up in the air!"<em>

The crowd was going wild, fists pumping up in the air as their eyes burned with fires of life.

_"Tell me are you feeling strong enough?  
>Tell me, 'cause all eyes are on you now.<em>

_Who cares who's there to stare  
>And tell you how to look?<br>I'm not even sure they know you by Name!  
>Who cares who's there to share<br>What they think of you?  
>Everybody here plays the same fucking game!<em>

_Alright, Alright, Alright!  
>You are such an energy!<br>Alright, Alright, Alright!  
>You are such an energy!<br>Let me see your fire, put your fist up in the air!_

_You are such an Energy!  
>Woah, you are such an energy!<br>Yeah, you are such an energy!"_

The song concluded flawlessly, giving way to an explosion of sound as the whole park went crazy with cheers and stomps that proclaimed their ecstatic approval of the concert as the lights on the stage turned off at once and the curtains were drawn. The cheers continued on for a good while after the curtains closed, and once the cheers had died down enough, the curtains opened slightly again and 2D walked out into the vie of the public, causing them hush up quickly to listen to his words.

"Thank you all for coming tonight!" 2D said into his mike with a smile, "You've web a wonderful crowd for us! Thank you! And before we leave, special thanks to Naruto Uzumaki, Jiraiya the Sanin, and our wonderful Hokage, all of whom helped us set this up for you this time! We wish you all a great rest of your night!"

And with that, 2D walked back behind the red curtain, vanishing from view ad leaving the crowd to cheer after him for a little while before the people began to leave the park, chattering excitedly about the concert.

And none were chatting more animatedly about the show than Naruto and the other VIP members.

The concert had been a complete success.

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**And BOOM! Another chapter done!**

**How was it? Good, bad, pic, abysmal? Leave a comment so that I know what you guys liked and what you didn't like!  
>ALSO! Any songs you might want me to consider using in this FanFic you should put them in your reviews so that I can consider them =p<strong>

**THAT'S ALL FOR NOW! Freedragon, Login out.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello there! This be the Dragon speaking! But of course you knew that, eh? Well get ready for an other chapter, because now the calm before the storm ends!**

**Last thing before we go diving into my story. Special thanks to:  
><strong>"Deta Asserve-Weaver Of Dreams" , "AnimaAmore" , "willam and jack and jake" , "infinite darkness117" , "Kaminari Wolfblood" , and "Cyborgnetics", who reviewed my last chapter and gave me a boost to write this chapter. **AND VEEEERY Special thanks to **"Van the Rogue Soul Drinker" , who helped me out with picking some songs and has been encouraging me to write more!

**Now come my friends, let my give you a glimpse of my world.**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

**Chapter 10: New Toy**

On the day after the concert, all over the village one could find people talking about the concert. Despite the fact that only a relatively small amount of people showed up as far as grand outdoor concerts go, the people that did show up were spreading the word about it all over town. Soon everyone in the village was well informed about the concert, and some parts of it had even become over-exaggerated (for example, at no point did anyone faint from the happiness of hearing the music, as one rumor claimed). In any case, it seemed that the Gorillaz had made a big splash on their first official grand concert in Konoha, and few people talked about it with more excitement than those that were present in the VIP section, who got the best view out of everyone.

It's worth mentioning that Anko and Kiba almost fainted along with half of the crowd when Dell came out for the first time to do his rapping for a few of the songs. Though later they got over it, it still freaked them out every time Dell scaped Russel's head to sing. Who knew that they were afraid of ghosts, eh?

At any rate, Naruto was arguably the most excited out of the bunch, considering he had had a song dedicated to him by them. Needless to say, he was the envy of almost everyone who had seen the concert, particularly from a few people of the female portion of the crowd who had already started to fall into their fan-girl modes.

As a matter of fact, 2D already had a fair number of people that wanted to jump his bones if they got the chance. Not that many could blame them, considering that after nearly 3 years of harsh training he, and his band-mates, had gotten into great shape. The change was most visible on 2D, who had gained a lean and defined muscle structure. Combine that with his angelic singing voice and his ability attract all eyes to him when he was on the stage, and it was easy to see how he had already attracted the attention of several women and girls in the crowd.

With the huge success of the first concert in Konoha, the Gorillaz had started to become the local stars of the village, and they had plans to expand their success beyond the reaches of the village which had already started to take place. But currently, they had other things to take care of before continuing with those plans, namely presenting their very first military project to the Hokage and a few select other individuals chosen by the Hokage herself.

All four of the Gorillaz pushed along a seemingly heavy object on wheels towards the line up of observers that stood in the clearing of Training Area 23, a secluded and distant training grounds from the Village that was guaranteed to offer privacy due to the seals that surrounded the clearing. When they were just a few meters away from line up of observers, the band members stopped pushing the object and came around to stand before their audience, which consisted of a few key members of the village. The line up consisted of the most prominent clan leaders, like the Hyuga, the Nara, and all other clan leaders of the graduated Konoha Nine that were present in Konoha, the Hokage, Jiraija the Toad Sage, the two elders of the Village, Danzo, the head of the interrogation department Ibiki, and the elite jounins Kakashi Hatake, Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma.

Therefore, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that most of the village's most important and powerful individuals were gathered in the lineup to see this new military project. However, the Gorillaz were hardly intimidated by their attention, considering the line of work that they had in the past as muscicians, dealing with important figures and performing for them was not something that was new to them.

With that in mind the self proclaimed leader of Gorillaz, Mudoc Nicals, took a step forward with his usual confident stride and grinned at the members of the small audience before him for a minute before proceeding to start the presentation.

"Welcome! Welcome all to our first military project presentation." Murdoc said cheerily as hurried his hands in anticipation, "You may have heard of us or perhaps not, but in any case we are the Gorillaz. I am Murdoc, and those three are Russel, Noodle, and 2D." Murdoc said as he signaled with his hand at each of the band members respectively. "Today we have an interesting presentation in store for you. We call it 'Project G'. Russel, if you please..." Murdoc said as he spread his hands wide and stepped aside with a shallow bow to allow the observers a better view of the object on wheels as Russel pulled off the white tarp that covered it with a flare.

Eyes were widened and eyebrows were raised once the tarp was removed, giving way to a few mutters from the crowd as they observed the cause of their reactions. Before them stood a what they would describe as green metallic chariot on thick black rubber wheels with a metallic cylinder-like protrusion on top.

To someone more familiar to the world from where the Gorillaz came from, on the other hand, would have recognized the object as a car, more specifically a Geep, almost exactly the same as the one that the Gorillaz had used in their video "19-2000". However there was one big difference between the original Geep and this new one at first sight: on the metal bar that rose from the outer sides of the back of the two front seats (A/N: if you don't know what metal bar I'm talking about, it's the one that Russel leans on during the whole video of 19-2000) there was what a military savvy person would identify as a three foot long turret machine gun.

Taking a careful look, one would notice that the upper metal bar were the turret rested had been made some what thicker than the original one in the 19-2000 video, its sides had even been re-enforced to support the weight of the gun with ease, and additionally, the back of the Geep had been elongated so that one person could stand and man the turret without getting in the way of the other people in the back, giving whoever was at the back also more leg room.

That said, the small gallery of observers didn't know what to make out of the metallic machine that was parked in front of them. It had a certain aesthetic appeal to it, and it certainly looked sturdy and powerful, but it's purpose was still a mystery to them.

Grinning slightly, Murdoc let the the observers think for few seconds just before the question he had been waiting for finally got asked by man with long black hair and pupil-less pale lavender colored irises.

"Well? What is it?" Hiashi Hyuga asked in his usual neutral tone, "And what does it do?"

Murdoc's slight grin turned into a full blown toothy smile and clapped his hands together.

"Well, since you ask, let me show you." Turning on his heel, Murdoc motioned the gallery of observers to come closer. Once he was close enough to touch the car, placed a hand on its hood and tapped it with his knuckle, causing a metallic sound to be emitted.

"ladies and Gentlemen, THIS is a State of the Art armored vehicle of war. We are talking about a Titanium and steel alloy armor with specially crafted ceramic tiles beneath it on the fuel tank and engine to dissipate blows, angled armor to displace blows and missiles and other projectiles, camouflage paint coating for fighting in all areas were there are plants and trees, high powered lights to blind enemies and illuminate dark areas, and half inch thick plastic and fiber glass windshields with silica core which makes it of a similar hardness to quartz, and therefore harder than hardened steel but more flexible than both quartz and steel. It also has a high power engine of high efficiency due to the special high-performance fuel we use that has even been treated with chakra to give it more juice, allowing this baby to ride two hundred and sixty kilometers per hour without turbo and three hundred with turbo, it has a built-in nigh unbreakable impact resistant frame work that could save the crew from impacts that could shatter a whole block of houses, a mini turret machine gun that can fire four hundred bullets of .80 caliber per minute continuously and with enough force and speed to leave holes through the enemy big enough to throw a ping pong ball throw it. Additionally, this beauty of a war machine can carry up to seven people, four at the back, and three in the front, plus their supplies, and with still enough room to fit comfortably. Oh! And let's not forget that it's equipped with two projectile explosives bellow it, plus it has four-wheel drive, a short distance radar that will pick up anything within two hundred meters, and, as a bonus, radio-cassette music player."

With that, Murdoc concluded his rant and closed his mouth with a satisfied clicking noise, and turned back to glance at the observers, who, although they looked impressed, they were also staring at him blankly. A moment later he realized that most of them probably hadn't even understood a third of his terms. He face palmed,and groaned.

"Murdoc-San," Kurenai said, "I have no idea what most of those words mean but it sounds impressive."

"Let's just show them." Russel said simply, barely managing to keep his voice level and not laugh at Murdoc in front of the most powerful people in the Village.

"Fine...whatever," Murdoc replied as he pinched the ridge of his nose, "that was part of the presentation anyways."

The other three band members soon nodded and climbed inside the vehicle while Murdoc guided the small crowd back to a short distance away from the vehicle and a second later he got the thumbs up from his three teammates, and he began to explain the vehicle in a less confusing manner.

"The vehicle is built with an angle surface, so blows won't hit full strength and they might even just slide or bounce off its armor. The armor itself is very strong and hard to damage. Watch."

Murdoc stepped forwards and threw a handful of regular shuriken at the armored war machine, all of which bounced of its metallic shell and windshields without even leaving a scratch. He then proceed to throw kunai with explosive tags attached, and the explosions, while each was large enough to blow up a person, didn't even put a dent on the armor of the Geep.

Turning around with a grin still in place, he offered to the guests a try of their own, to which a few stepped forward and used the fire bullet jutsu, the water bullet jutsu, and the earth dragon bullet bullet, all of which either slid off the Geep's armor or broke off once it hit the vehicle, and the three band mates that were riding inside were still intact. Pleased with the results, Murdoc found that the observers were impressed with the performance given their mutters and wide eyes, so he proceeded with the presentation.

"Now, see that long metal thing you see on the main support bar?" Murdoc addressed the observers as he pointed to the turret, "That's a turret. It's a low flat armored gun. It fires bullets at very high speeds." Murdoc dug into his pocket and pulled out a long metallic object as thick as his thumb that had a conical head and presented it to the small crowd as he continued, "And THESE are bullets. Think of them as miniature kunai that fly ten times faster than your average Kunai."

He tossed the bullet to Jiaiya who examined it for a moment before passing it on to Tsunade. While the guests took turns studying the bullet, Murdoc signaled his team mates to get ready to show off the Turret, to which Noodle nodded and got in position while Russel took the driver position with 2D taking his position at the rear, right beside Noodle, readying the bullets to be used. As soon as every one of the members had seen the bullet, Murdoc signaled his team mates the "get set" signal, and turned to his audience with a mischievous grin.

"And THIS is what this little guys can do to the enemy." Turning his head to give Jiraiya a nod, Jiraiya made a hand-seal and half a dozen target practice dummies appeared in a line in front of the Geep at distances ranging from thirty to sixty meters away from the Geep. Obviously Jiraiya had helped them set up some targets with his famous Fuiin Jutsu seals.

The guests barely had time to look at the distance between the targets and the turret skeptically before Murdoc cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "FIRE!"

What followed his shout was a soft 'click' as the safety pin of the turret was plucked out, a sound which was almost instantly drowned out by the storm of noise that followed as a hail of bullets was fired from the Geep towards the targets. Even with the silencing device that Russel had fashioned for the turret, which made the turret sound more like an Uzi submachine gun rather than a three hundred pound turret, the sound of a of the gun easily reached the ears of the observers, startling a few of them with the noise. Less than half a minute later, the gun's cannon made a fizzing noise as it stopped rotating when Noodle released the trigger with a smile on her face. By then, at least two hundred bullets had been fired, and more than half had hit their target, leaving the target dummies looking more like Swiss-Cheese than firing targets.

Once the firing stopped, Murdoc was given the thumbs up by Russel, and he guides the curious group of observers to the test dummies.

It was safe to say that the observers were impressed. VERY impressed. Each target had at least twenty-some hits in several locations of their body. More often than not, their chest had several wounds that would have killed a man either from damage to internal organs or cause them to bleed out, a couple had practically lost half of their head, three of them had lost half an arm or a leg completely, and all the wounds bullet holes went straight through the targets.

At first glance, the damage was impressive from the front. But the once the observers saw the back of the targets... The true power of the gun was much more clear. While the front of the bullet wounds had a decently wide and neat hole, the back of the wound, were the bullet had excited the body of the dummy, the hole was easily twice or maybe even three times the width of the of the hole were the bullet had come in, and as if that wasn't enough, the foam and cloth which had been used to make the torso of the dummy had been torn from the inside out, as if the bullet had grabbed on to the insides of the dummy when it was half way through and tried to take it with him as it flew through the dummy at insane speeds.

"Wow..." was all the Jiraiya could say as he inspected the damage. Even A and S ranked Ninja would have to be careful when getting close to that machine. The speed at which it was firing those bullets was no joke.

Tsunade nodded dumbly in agreement. "Impressive."

Smiling widely, Murdoc allowed himself to bask in the shock of the observers for a moment before he proceeded onto the last demonstration: Driving the thing.

Clearing his throat to get the attention of the small crowd, Murdoc began his little speech. "Now, the last test... Driving it. Any volunteers? They can take four more people at most." a wicked grin crossed appeared on his face and Kakashi could have sworn he saw a glint in his eye for an instant.

"I'll go." Kakashi said stepping forward.

"YOSH! Then so shall I!" Gai shouted as he struck his 'Nice-Gai' pose, obviously eager to match his eternal rival even in this.

"I would also like to try it." A third voice spoke up, which, surprisingly, belonged to Danzo. This shocked a few people in the crowd, but no one commented on this. "This… _thing_ looks like it might worth my time."

Murdoc's eye twitched at the condescending and haughty tone of voice which danzo used to describe the Geep, but bit his tongue to avoid snapping at him, and instead addressed the crowd. "No one else?" Murdoc said as he looked around the group of people, some of them eyeing the vehicle with a weary eye.

"Great, okay." Murdoc nodded, and pulled out a small flat screen from his jacket's pocket, only about as large as the surface of a book. "While those guys go for a ride we will be able to observe them with this screen in real live-time."

Murdoc set the screen on the ground and clicked a button, and a two dimensional hologram of the vehicle and its riders appeared, making it look like there was a twenty inch flat screen television floating on the air and giving the crowd a crystal clear view of the vehicle.

"We call this device the 'Holographer 2000', courtesy of Jiraiya and 2D." Murdoc said at the flabbergasted faces of the crowd, save for Jiraiya that was puffing out his chest proudly, and for once, he had every right to feel proud. The little device was a mix of technology and seals, and the only one of its kind so far.

"Now that we are set here, if you three could get in the Geep then we can get started with the last part of this demo." Murdo said at the three volunteers who promptly entered the rear of the vehicle while 2D and Noodle hopped up to the front of the vehicle, with 2D taking the copilot seat to the right And Noodle seating her self in the seat between Russel and 2D. Noodle quickly instructed the three guest riders on the safety measures, and the three guests followed the instructions of the girl to put on a seatbelt, though Danzo did so eskeptically, not seeing the need for it.

"Ready?" Murdoc asked, getting the thumbs up from his three band members and words of agreement from the two jounin and a court nod from Danzo. Needless to say that Danzo's attitude irritated Murdoc to no end, and by now Murdoc was hoping that to Danzo either got scared out of his wits during his little ride or that he have an accident that would cripple his manhood Permanently. Nonetheless, Murdoc forced a smile at the man and gave Russel the go ahead.

"Oh, and 2D, sing a little tune for the guests." Murdoc added offhandedly before he backed up and gave Jiraiya the thumbs up, to which the Sannin replied with a nod before flipping through a list of hand seals and slamming his hands on the ground.

"Earth style! Construction of Mayhem! Unseal!"

A moment later the area around the clearing shook, and a road made of greyish orange stone rose from the ground in a ramp, which leveled out into a flat road at about a height of ten feet from the ground. The road wandered off into the forest at one edge of the clearing and reappeared on the opposite end, ending in a ramp that was a mirror image of the first ramp.

Russel turned the keys of the armored vehicle, causing the machine to roar to life. Grinning like the cats that caught the cannary, the three Gorillaz operating the vehicle gave the rest of the observers a quick salute and Noodle turned on the Music system of the car and incerted a caset that read "Gorillaz" and switching through the songs until the sound track for "19-2000" came on with a catchy beat.

A moment later Russel stepped on the gas, the machine roaring even louder in response and causing the vehicle rear up on its hind wheels at a forty-five degree angle as it lurched forwards towards the ramp at increasingly high speeds, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. At the same time, three wide-eyed men yelped in surprise at the rear of the Geep as they were pushed against their back seats due to the sudden acceleration of the vehicle, arms sprawled to their sides as they instinctively braced for an impact that didn't come.

In less than half a minute the vehicle was already cruising down the highway at top speed without turbo, swerving and driving around with seemingly reckless abandon but with exact precision and control of how turn and where to do so. Of course, the fact that they had asked Jiraiya to model the current road after the one they used in the 19-2000 did help.

2D cleared his voice and relaxed against his seat as if the insane driving show wasn't even occurring and began to sing easily.

"_The world is spinning too fast,  
>I'm buying them Niki shoes,<br>To keep myself tethered  
>To the days I try to loose<em>

_My mama said to slow down  
>You must make your own shoes<br>Start dancing to the music  
>Of Gorillaz in a happy mood<em>

_Keeping my Groove on._"

By now the car was approaching a giant loop, much to the awe of the observers and to the horror of the three guest riders who by now were pale skinned from the fright.

"_Here we go!_" Noodle sang out as she glanced back to three guests, who despite just being scared within an inch of their lives had to smile (save for Danzo, of course) at Noodle.  
><em>"Get the Cool, Get the Cool shoeshine<br>Get the cool, Get the cool shoeshine  
>Get the cool, Get the cool shoeshine<br>Get the cool, Get the cool shoeshine"_

Once the group had managed to survive the loop without incident, the three guest rider let out a sigh of relief that they hadn't realized they had been holding in finally feeling somewhat at ease. Until they looked up ahead to find that at least a hundred meters worth of road had disappeared up a head, leaving a huge gap and only a ramp of sorts to cross it. They started to try to say something, but by then Russel had hit the turbo button on and in a flash they were at the ramp.

And all the while 2D kept on singing without even flinching.

_"There is a monkey in the Jungle  
>Watching our vapor trail<br>Caught up in a conflict between his brain and his tail_

_(Oh yeah yeah)_

_And if times elimination  
>Then we have nothing to loose<br>Please repeat the message  
>It's the music that we choose<em>

_Keeping my groove on._"

Then Noodle took up her part easily. _"Get the cool, get the cool Shoeshine  
>Get the cool, Get the cool shoeshine<br>Get the cool, Get the cool shoeshine  
>Get the cool, Get the cool shoeshine..."<br>_  
>By now, already past the massive loop, the impossible turns, and the massive gap, Kakashi had finally began to enjoy himself and the music, while Gai was just beginning to calm down, but Danzo was still tense and pale.<p>

However there was ONE last obstacle to the run. One that had not being planned. A minute later one massive carnivorous spider from the forest appeared, easily twelve feet in height.

Undeterred by the new entity, the Gorillaz sped forward, not without first clicking a particularly bright red button, which caused the vehicle to rise on an unseen hydraulic system and two missiles to rise from underneath it. A moment later, Noodle clicked the button again, and the missiles launched themselves at the spider, consuming it in an explosion of fire, smoke, and green goo, through which they just sped through without hesitation.

Less than a minute later they reappeared at the opposite end of the clearing that they had set off from, stopping neatly right in front of the guests once again. Naturally, they were greeted with cheers and applause for their show.

And almost no one noticed that Danzo was as pale as a ghost for the first time in a very long time.

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Meantime, Naruto was on his way to his favorite ramen stand, with a certain little red fox hanging off his shoulder lazily while he walked.

"Do you think they are going to have an other concert soon?" Naruto idly asked the fox as his mind wandered over thoughts of music and ramen.

"Probably." The fox replied to him simply, "They were talking about storming the shinobi world with their music, so I imagine that for that they need more concerts."

"I don't think they will have to try too hard to do that..." Naruto replied, "To storm the world with music I mean."

"I don't think so either." Kurama replied lazily, "So far it's been success after success. Though that's not a surprise, I suppose. The music of this land that has been created by the rest of you humans has been pretty static and stale for the last three hundred years."

Naruto looked at the little fox in surprise. "Three hundred years?"

"That's right kit. It's little wonder that everyone is drooling at their music. Three hundred years of the same stale and slow style of music, with almost identical voices singing the same songs over and over tend to make anything new exciting. And considering that they are the best of the best there are plus they are fresh blood in the music industry here… Well, it would be hard to resist for most people."

Naruto was forced to concede that the fox had a point. It wasn't like there were many musicians to begin with either, so live music was rare for common people. The concerts that the Gorillaz carried out were a welcome novelty for the world in many ways, and helped introduce people to many aspects of music.

As he pondered all this, Naruto's feet automatically carried him over to his favorite ramen stand, only snapping out of his thoughts when a familiar feminine voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Welcome to Ichiraku's Ramen, how can I- oh, hi Naruto!"

"Hey Ayame, what's up?" Naruto asked in his usual friendly manner, "Been busy all day?"

"Well it was kind of a lazy day today..." Ayame said slowly, before a smirk started to tug at her lips, "But I guess the lazy time is done now that a certain someone is here though."

"Hell yeah! You know it baby!" Naruto said enthusiastically and giving her a thousand mega watt smile, a smile that without his knowledge emphasized the word 'baby' and made Ayame blush at the blond teen that was seven years younger than her.

"Eh? Are you alright Ayame? You are a little red..." Naruto said, who despite being younger than Ayame was now taller than her and leaned closer to her face to better inspect the redness.

"Eh?! Oh! No no no, it's nothing!" Ayame rushed to reply, "It's just the, um... The heat!"

"The heat?"

"Uhh, yeah, it's been kinda hot and the kitchen is even hotter!"

"I guess it has been kinda hot... But-"

"ANYWAYS, what will you be having Naruto?" Ayame interrupted him loudly, taking a step back at the same time.

"Oh! Right, give me the usual ten bowls of misso ramen to start up please!" Naruto said brightly, instantly forgetting about Ayames odd behavior and refocusing on his food.

"Ten misso ramen bowls coming right up!" Ayame said with a relieved expression and fled towards the kitchen before she made any other awkward movements or Naruto remembered her blush.

"You know," The nine-tailed fox said to his container, "You are the most thick headed idiot out there."

"Hey! Where did that come from?" Naruto asked, obviously irritated at the fox's comment.

The fox just barked a laugh and jumped on his head, and laid down for a nap, but not without first saying, "I'll let you figure it out."

"...Stupid fox..." Naruto muttered under his breath.

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After a successful day presenting their very first tool of war to the most prominent members of the military council, the Gorillaz resolved themselves to have a hearty meal at the best ramen stand in town: Ichiraku's Ramen. Though with the amount of people that the little stand had, Russel couldn't help but wonder how come the owner didn't expand his business.

As the foursome approached the stand, the smell of the ramen made their stomachs rumble and growl in hunger loud enough to even interrupt the eager chattering between 2D and Noodle.

"Looks like we got here just in time." Russel laughed as Noodle blushed with embarrassment when her belly betrayed her hunger by rumbling loudly.

"No kidding." Murdoc mumbled as he felt his own belly growl again, demanding to be fed with alcoholic drinks and something solid to go with it... Like pizza or ramen.

"Hey guys!"

A yellow bullet crash hugged 2D, knocking some of the air in his lungs out of his body and causing him to double over.

"Hey, what's up Naruto?" 2D replied with his patented show smile, which Naruto returned. It was only a second later that they realized that their faces were really close together.

CRASH!

THUMP!

Immediately the two of them turned their heads to find a knocked out Ayame with a large amount of blood flowing from her nose, and a very red Noodle with a trickle of blood running down from her nose. Blinking, the two guys approached the girls who seemed to immediately regain awareness of the it surroundings.

"Er... Noodle... You okay luv?" 2D asked her, only to have her give a little "eep!" sound and scuttle away to help Ayame up, saying that it was a "girls' thing".

"Ayame... Ayame wake up." Noodle said in a half whisper like voice as she shook her awake.

"Wh-wha...?" Atame replied as her eyes started flickering open, "Did I die and go to heaven?"

"No... It was just an accident. 2D and Naruto got too close by accident and smiled at each-other with those pure and innocent eyes... I think I say an illusion of yellow roses and blue lilies in the background because of that."

"You saw it too?" Ayame said dreamily, "That was the sexiest and most innocent thing i have ever seen. The two hottest guys in Konoha... Smiling like that at each-other... So close they could almost kiss..."

"Ayame... You are drooling." Noodle said carefully.

"Oh, wha-? Oh! Sorry sorry!" Ayame said as she stood up with the help of Noodle and wiped the drool off her face with a napkin.

"Ahem." Murdoc called out from some ways away from a table behind the girls, "Hello? Earth to chicks? Me want food. Now."

"Oh! Sorry about that!" Ayame said in a rush as she hurried to produce a pen and a notepad from her pocket and rush over to take their orders.

Incidentally, for some reason every time she looked at Naruto or 2D, the girl blushed like a tomato and had to look away.

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After everyone had their fill of ramen, the whole group, consisting of Gorillaz and Naruto, headed back to their apartments all the time being followed people. In particular girls. Lots and Lots of girls. But the thing was that, since it was a Ninja village, you didn't just have the regular girls that would follow you meekly and were bad at hiding, you also had the pro ninja girls that were good enough at hiding that they could give a ghost a run for their money. That made going home for the group of friends a somewhat eerie experience, but regardless of that they made it home safely.

Once at home, they held a quick meeting in the room of Murdoc and Russel, where Kakashi and Jiraiya were already waiting. As soon as the door was closed, a slight silver and blue glow covered 2D and the small lizard like body of Ventus materialized on 2D's shoulder.

"Hey Ven." 2D said with a friendly tone as he petted the small form of the dragon king.

"Yo." The dragon replied simply as it settled into a comfortable position on 2D's shoulder and wrapped his tail around the neck of 2D.

"Ventus, how rare for you to join us." Jiraiya said with genuine surprise, "Any particular reason for that?"

The dragon just eyed Jiraiya for a second before letting out a small and amused snort, which produced a small cloud of smoke from his nostrils at the same time, as if to emphasize his action.

"I like to come out from time to time, Toad Sage. Besides, this could be interesting to hear."

Satisfied by the answer of the dragon, Jiraiya turned back to the matter at hand.

"So, shall we start the meeting?"

A general sound of agreement filled the room and they began to talk.

"So," Jiraiya continued, "We have roughly three weeks time before the Akatzuki start to move. In that time, aside from training and staying alert, what are we going to do?"

Unexpectedly, the one to reply was Ventus, and he did so as if it was the most natural thing in the world, not even bothering to look up from his resting place at 2D's shoulder.

"Its simple. We need to do three things, which are spread the influence of the Gorillaz, produce more weaponry, and introduce basic tactics to use that weaponry."

"And how do you propose we do that, eh, scale face?" Murdoc asked with annoyance, obviously frustrated by the inability to see how to do it himself.

"Watch it imp-face, remember who you are talking to." The dragon growled back at him, pining him down with his very positively scary looking reptilian glare. Whether Murdoc liked it or not, he wasn't talking to a run-of-the-mill lizard. He was talking to a dragon, and not just any dragon, the king of dragons. Small or not, that little body still packed some serious power. Once he was sure Murdoc had reflected upon his errors, Ventus proceeded to explain what he meant.

"To do what I have suggested is not that hard actually. First, I believe you recorded a whole album already, isn't that right?"

"Yes, they did. I even helped with a bit of the recording set up." Jiraiya said carefully. "But how is one album going to help much in just three weeks?"

"Just make many more copies of it." Ventus said lazily, "I am sure these guys know how to replicate them. Make a dozen or two, send them to the most prominent cities in the elemental nations, use your spy network to convince those boring radio stations to play them and boom, you are done the first step. That will get people reacquainted with their music and give you time to start mass producing the album."

Blinking with surprise the whole room listened as Ventus continued to explain the plan as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, despite the fact that it seemed air intricate but at the same time straightforward.

"As for the weapons that's not complicated either. Just make something that is simple and effective, don't make it too fancy and use readily available materials so that you can produce a good amount of them. That way people can get used to them quickly and the tactics can be carried out more efficiently, rather than fiddling around trying to figure out how some fancy thing works while the enemy tries to kill them. Its not like we have much time so simple is better. Maybe something like an explosive or projectile of some sort would do."

"Mmmmm…. That could work." Kakashi replied after a second of thought. "Given we don't have much time, something that is simple and quick to learn would be best, and if we sell only a limited amount of copies of the album, say a few hundred, we could easily rake in a lot of money from people that would be willing to pay. If we make them signed and autographed by the band members and throw in an exclusive limited time poster then that would make it even more attractive for the costumer I think."

"There you go." Ventus said with a small smile. "Seems like you got some brains kid."

"I'm not a kid." Kakashi replied to the dragon. He might be young for a jouning, yes, but he was already in in his mid twenties and that was hardly considered a kid.

However, to his surprise, the dragon just made a sort of rumbling and huffing sound that sounded suspiciously like laughter. And as it turns out, the dragon _was_ laughing.

"Compared to me, yes you are a kid." Ventus replied simply, "I'm way older than I look right now. You should take it as a compliment that I called you a kid instead of a kiddy, or an egg, because relative to my age, that's closer to your actual age."

As much as Kakashi wanted to argue the fact that he wasn't a kid, he had to admit, the dragon had a point. The creature was milenia older than he was, judging from their stories, the fox and the dragon were roughly the same age. He supposed that from the point of view of a creature that had lived thousands of years, long enough to see volcanoes be born and die with time, he _was_ a kid.

"Well…. That was easy." 2D said cheerily. "I guess I'll see you guys around then, me Noods and Ven are going to go hang out."

"Hang on there, 2D," Russel said as 2D and Noodle started to stand up to depart from the room, "We still haven't discussed what the plan is if we happen to meet the Akatzuki before the three weeks are up _and_ they attack us."

"Simple," Ventuse said once again, turning to face the crowd, and his eyes locked with Kurama's eyes for one split of second, but it was enough to make the fox grin and add his voice to what Ventus was going to say, causing their voices to synchronize as they finished the sentence, "We kill the Akatsuki."

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**AND CUT! There you go my friends! The tenth chapter of G.H.V. just fresh out of my computer for all of you to enjoy! HOPE YOU ALL LIKED IT!**

Please don't forget to leave a review, Any input is appreciated and it helps get my butt in gear to write more chapters!

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**Oh! And here is a review question I got a while back from **Cyborgnetics**. iT WAS A REALLY GOOD QUESTION so I replied to it and I thought I would share it with you guys, just in case anyone one else was wondering the same thing.**

**Here it is (the review is from chapter 8):**

**Question:**

"…..there is some things I'd like to know like I was kinda wondering about 2D's migraines, I mean his stash has to end sometime... at least there is alcohol and cigarettes but to the point I didn't notice anything about that or is there some other method?

Otherwise this is a really good story and hope you continue it im interested to see their first real fight in a Mission, but don't think they could be ready for the Akatsuki if my memory serves me next is Deidara and Sasori going after Gaara... Anyways can't wait for the next Chapter...now if i can only find a Bleach one to match the Picture Tite Kubo drew..."

**Answer: **  
>"Very good points you bring up. Originally, 2D's Headaches REALLY started after he fell off a tree and smacked his head and lost all his hair right? Well, if you recall, when they transferred into the world of Ninjas they had their brains re-wired so that they were more similar to the people around them. Since 2D's Migraines were an anomaly that was caused by trauma to the head, by re-wiring his brain that got "fixed" so to speak. HOWEVER, he is still more prone to migraines than others, and certain levels of stress will trigger them, though not at the same "Break your head so that it stops" level. Still, they will be bad. And any amount of distraction is deadly in a ninja conflict.<p>

For now I have decided to ignore his drug tendencies. I read somewhere that he [2D] quit drugs for good after demon days (which makes sense, cause otherwise the withdrawal might have killed him during his imprisonment under water due to Murdoc, considering that he was under there for about two or three years or more.), so for now I am just leaving them out intentionally, and maybe I will bring them into play later. I also heard his smoking and alcohol tendencies went way down because of his stress with the whale thing.

On the other hand, Smoking and Alcohol still remain a great part of Murdoc's life stile. We all know Murdoc can't live without alcohol. I plan on introducing this idea later too."

**Okay and that's that. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! This is freedragon, login out.**


	11. Chapter 11

**HELLO MY FRIENDS! Did you miss me? Aye, I missed you all. Forgive my delay; I had a total of 11 midterms… ELVEN! GAH! They sucked! And done even get me started about finals. I mean, I passed them all pretty well, but that doesn't mean I liked doing them.  
>At any rate, I believe you are all curious to see what happens next, yes? Hehehe… Well! I shall make this brief then.<strong>

**Especial thanks to:  
><strong>infinite darkness117 , Deta Asserve-Weaver of Dreams , AnimaAmore , and to the unknown guest that posted in the wall, lol.

**NOW! How about we get going eh? Read on my friends! Let me show you my creation.**

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**Chapter 11: Bloody Well Right!**

Tsunade looked out her window from the Hokage's Tower, her eyes looking far off into the distance, obviously lost in thought. In the past month, the word that Naruto had returned, along with the new that the Gorillaz had become ninjas, had become common knowledge around Konoha. However that had created a couple of problems which, while not unexpected, were likely to be unpleasant, and like it or not, she would have to deal with them.

_Knock Knock._

"Come in." She replied automatically, the knocking on the door bringing her back down to earth.

"Thanks Tsunade-Hime." Jiraiya said as he stepped through the door, followed by Kakashi, who, as per usually, was reading one of his orange books Echi books.

"You called us Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked respectfully as he closed his book with a snap, and tucked it away safely in a pouch on his belt. Tsunade could have sworn that the inside lining of the pouch had some sort of fine and expensive fur, but she couldn't be sure of it.

"Yes, I did." Tsunade replied with a nod as she went to her desk and sat down, looking at both Jiraiya and Kakashi with her usual serious expression that she always wore when she meant business. "It's about Naruto and the Gorillaz, particularly the 2D fellow."

The two men briefly glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes, knowing right away that this was likely to be a serious discussion, before shifting their eyes to look back at the blonde hokage with seriousness. Despite the fact that they both had, in their own way, a very laid back attitude and issues with their dirty minds, they were both professional ninjas that knew when it was time to get serious.

"What's the situation?" Jiraiya asked right away, knowing that what ever it was, if it involved the only two people in Konoha that had chakra reserves many times larger than a hokage's due to a certain couple of creatures that lived in their bodies, it was not likely to be good.

"It's the Council." The hokage said with tiered sigh.

And those three simple words made Jiraiya and Kakashi stand up a little straighter. It was no secret that the council had very mixed feelings about Naruto. But if they had caught wind about 2D's similar situation too…

"In particular," Tsunade continued, "The Civilian Council. They somehow have caught on that something I not right with Naruto … more than normal anyways, and some how, they have also noticed our blue-haired friend too."

Jiraiya and Kakashi were visibly displeased at the mention of the civilian council, and with good reason. Amongst shinoby, few of the civilian council actually were considered by them as worthy of respect, particularly because the majority said council's members were rich merchants that had made their money through dubious methods at times, and were distinctly ignorant of shinobies and what their works entailed, not to mention that they were much more focused in monetary gain and typically self centered. More than once they had caused problems for the shinoby for things that were relatively unimportant, and the majority seemed to have the mistaken idea that shinoby were similar to tools that could be dished out left, right, and center according to what suited their needs.

However, Kakashi and Jiraiya had taken a special dislike to the Civilian Council, mostly due to Naruto. In the eyes of the civilian council, Naruto was the equivalent of a street rat, a cursed child, a demon brat, and some even thought of him as a motherless bastard that personified the Kyuubi itself in human form. Needless to say that the great majority of the council hated the child, and those who didn't (which mind you, were not very many) were forced to at least keep their thoughts to themselves, lest they risked loosing their seats as a council member and have rumors about themselves start popping up all over the place.

If one were to have to choose in whom to pin the blame on for the suffering of Naruto, the answer would have been the civilian council. It was that simple. They had made impossible for the third Hokage to adopt Naruto. They had made it impossible for him to stay in the orphanage. They had leaked the information that Naruto had the Kyubii sealed within him (which is how the people found out in the first place about Naruto). It was the council who had fanned the people's hate towards Naruto. One could even say that the root of Naruto's misery at the hands of the villagers was the fault of the civilian council. It was no wonder that the fact that the majority of the civilian council hated Naruto was the worst kept secret in the village.

The only ones that had to some extent respected Naruto, or at least the ones that had harassed him the least, were the Shinobi (Ninja) Clans that had a fairly long history, that is to say, the ninja clans that had enough experience and seen enough action in the field to understand that Naruto was only an unfortunate soul that had to be sacrificed for the survival of the village.

And for all the misery that they had caused Naruto, neither Jiraiya, nor Tsunade, nor even Kakashi, could forgive the council. In fact, no one that actually cared for the boy was very pleased with the Civilian Council. It could also be said that to the Civilian Council (with the support of the three elders) often butted heads with the Shinobi Council and the Hokage where the boy was concerned.

"Ready?" Tsunade asked once they arrived to the doors that led to the Council's meeting room. She drew a deep breath and prepared to deal with the bunch of borderline narcissistic old fools of the Council. This was a full Council meeting, which meant that the Shinobi council, which consisted of the heads of the five (originally seven) main clans of Konoha, and the thirteen members of the Civillian Councill, and the three elders, plus the Hokage, would all be gathered.

"As much as we'll ever be." Kakashi said with a sigh, looking about as excited, as he would be if he had had to go about picking up turds on the street.

"Lets get this over with." Jiraiya said with resignation. He hated the old senile bastards of the civilian council… or at least most of them.

Tsunade pushed the door open, allowing the three of them passage into the chamber were the council would be held. It was a decently large round meeting room. At the In the center of the room, a large round table was placed. Around it several seats were placed, each filled by a council member, save for the three seats that were reserved for the Hokage, Jiraiya of the Sanin, and Kakashi of the Hatake clan.

Amongst the council members were all the key figures of the village. The Ninja Council, which consisted of 13 members, sat on the right side of the room, and consisted of the heads of the most prominent Ninja clans, namely the Akamichi, Aburame, Hyuga, Inuzaka, Nara, Yamanaka, Sarutobi (represented by Asuma), Hatake, and the Hokage who was part of the Senju Clan. Additionally, the Ninja Council also included the head of the Interrogation and torture department (Ibiki), the head of the ANBU units (Yugao Uzuki), Elite Jonin Miato Gai, Elite Jonin Hatake Kakashi, Elite Jonin Kurenai, Elite Jonin Assuma, and guest member Jiraiya of the Sanin (who technically isn't a member of the council, but nonetheless an important addition to their meeting). As for those who sat on the left, those were the 15 members of the Civilian Council, and the three Elders sat at far end of the table, opposite to the Hokage.

The rooms bickering died down as soon as the Hokage entered the room, all eyes fixating on her and the two last remaining members that were to partake in the council that followed her.

"Alright then," Tsunade said coolly as she looked at the small crowd that was seated around the table, as she sat down. "Lets get the ball rolling. What's on the agenda for today?"

"Well to start off with…" A member of the civilian council began to speak, bringing up a list of relatively minor issues, making Tsunade groan inwardly, already foreseeing an irritatingly long argument that was disproportional to the actual issues. Unfortunately for her, she was right. There was a good hour-long debate over a minor tax increase proposal, an argument over the next genin instruction, and a couple of other minor issues.

"… and that's that." Tsunade finally concluded. Brining an end to their latest issue. "Is that it for today?" She asked tiredly, hoping that the perhaps she had being wrong about the issue with Naruto and 2D, or that the council had forgotten.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

"Actually, Hokage-sama," the elderly voice of Danzo replied, "there _is_ an other issue that on the agenda."

_-Oh goody… here we go…-_ Tsunade thought to herself sarcastically, recognizing right away the beginning of the expected and potentially most important issue.

"Its about the Kyuubi boy and that new tall fellow," Koharu spoke up (Note: Koharu is the Female Elder).

"What about it?" Kakashi asked offhandedly, what remained of his face uncovered by the mask he wore reflected an impassive and cool demeanor.

"There are…. Concerns," Homura replied (Note: Homura is the third Elder), "About the boy and the new comer."

"Do tell." Tsunade replied, eyeing carefully the three elders as they spoke.

"The Kyuubi boy is-" Danzo began, only to be cut off by Tsunade.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Tsunade said with a sharp and slight nod, a barely traceable underlining of steel marking her voice.

"Yes, him." Danzo continued with a slight nod, "And this new apprentice of Jiraiya, Two…. D, I believe he calls himself." Danzo said carefully, as if tasting the name carefully as the words rolled off his tongue. "There are certain concerns and questions the council has about them."

A slight murmuring spread across the room, most noticeably in the left side of the room, the Ninja par of the council being more reserved on their opinions.

"What about them?" Tsunade enquired.

"We wish to know about them, for one." Koharu replied, "and there are concerns regarding the boys'… progresses and current states."

_-She is being mighty careful with her words….-_ Jiraiya noted to himself. The shrewd old crone was probably trying to learn something before deciding on a course of action… or perhaps she was setting a trap of a sort.

"We would appreciate a report from Jiraiya and Kakashi on this matter." Homura added, his voice somewhat less reserved than Koharu's.

"Very well." Tsunade said with a nod, "Jiraiya, Kakashi. If you please."

"As you wish Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied formally with a nod, standing up along with Jiraiya to relay a brief report to the council.

"As you all know," Jiraiya began, "I took Naruto from the village for three years as my apprentice, travelling the Elemental Nations with him. As I'm sure you are all aware, the reason for his training was two fold, not just for his own personal improvement, but also for defending himself against the elite criminal group known as the Akatsuki."

He paused for a moment before continuing, seeing nods and hearing a few murmurs going a round the room as he began the report.

"After six months on the road, we had an unexpected encounter. The four members of the group known as the 'Gorillaz' presented themselves to us, literally appearing out of nowhere, and-"

"Out of nowhere?" Hiashi Hyuga interrupted with interest, "Jiraiya…sama, if you would forgive my interruption, but how is that possible? As a member of the Sanin, your ability to detect people and ninjas of any sort is more than superior to even that of most jonin. I find it very hard to believe that anyone less than a high level jonin is capable of escaping your notice."

_-Leave it to a Hyuga to catch on to little details.- _Jiraiya thought to himself with slight annoyance. That said, he might as well tell the council. It could prove beneficiary even, making the Gorillaz an apparently more valuable asset in the eyes of the council.

"That's because they _weren't_ there before." Jiraiya replied bluntly, holding back a smirk at the shocked silence that followed his words. He could almost hear the gears in the mind's of the council's members start turning as they tried to make sense of the situation. And of course, it was the head of the Nara clan the one who figured it out first, only taking him a few seconds to make the connection.

"Wait… if they weren't there before at all…" Shikaku said slowly, his eyes widening at the realization, "Then that means that they couldn't be summoned there because it would be impossible due to no-one being there to summon them in the first place…. So that means that… they teleported there from somewhere else!"

A moment of shocked silence followed his words, and quickly was broken by an eruption of loud voices, voicing their thoughts simultaneously, arguing or agreeing or not making sense at all with their comments.

"ENOUGH!" Tsunda said loudly, smacking her hand against the table to emphasize her point, causing the room to fall silent under her glare. "Please continue Jiraiya."

"As you wish." He replied before he directed himself to the council once more. "Shikaku is correct, they did indeed teleport to our world, however, the method of transfer is incredibly dangerous and currently impossible for us, or them even, to replicate. They come from an alternate world much different from ours." Jiraiya said seriously, glancing at the council, "I hope you all understand that his is also an S rank secrete, as stated by the Hokage, and discussion about it with anyone that is not part of the council, or does not know about it is completely forbidden and punishable as an act of extreme treason."

That last statement seemed to sober up the council, and hushing them before they could begin to bicker amongst themselves, a fact that was not lost to Jiraiya as he continued to relay his report.

"In any case, Naruto proceeded to try to engage them in conversation on sight, and soon turned it into a briefly-lived fight, which concluded with me stopping Naruto after he delivered a kick which could have killed a man at 2D's head. Surprisingly, 2D's skull didn't suffer any fractures after taking the hit head on without any sort of defense. Soon after the incident Naruto and I became well acquainted with the group, and, after a careful analysis of their personalities and abilities, I deemed them a potentially large asset to the village and to Naruto's development, and thus I decided to take them as apprentices too."

There he paused for a second and glanced at Tsunade from the corner of his eye, a fact that was not lost on Danzo, or Kakashi, or Hiashi. Tsunade gave him a barely noticeable nod, giving him permission to continue the story as it truly was. Perhaps it would do some good to the fools of the council to be wary of the group, it would definitely discourage any attempts at sabotaging Naruto's team, at the very least.

"Shortly after our meeting, however, it came to our attention, and surprise, that 2D had been chosen by the dragon lord Ventus, the Dragon King himself, to act as his vessel, essentially making him the tenth Jinchuriki."

There he stopped, shutting his mouth close with a soft but audible blunt clicking sound, signifying that his teeth had clamped shut. Jiraiya was obviously waiting for the response of the Council, expecting an immediate burst of shouts and screams which would be demands, questions, and comments. Surprisingly, or at least, surprising to him, there was no such thing. Not immediately anyways.

The first response of the members of the council was a palpable shocked silence, many of the council members had their eyes were bulging out to some extent, and the civilian council members seemed to have gone paled faced. The next moment, their facial expressions went through a range of emotional states, starting from shock, to fear, to confusion. And _then_ the shouting and screaming began.

The best way to describe the following thirty seconds of the Council meeting was chaos. Flat out, convoluted, and loud chaos. Screaming and shouting, seemed to erupt from every mouth, some people stood up and demanded answers, others flat out voiced their fear, others asked questions that were actually relevant but drowned out in the cacophony, and yet others started pointing fingers and trying to set themselves up for their best personal outcome.

"_ENOUGH!_" Tsunade finally shouted, using the 'demon-head-shout' jutsu she had learned from Iruka, who had invented the jutsu, to be heard over the uproar of voices. She made a mental note to thank Iruka for the Jutsu. It was extremely effective. Once she had everyone's attention, she released the Jutsu and proceeded to talk.

"Everyone _will_ shut up and let the man continue talking. He might answer some of the questions as the report continues. Once he and Kakashi are done, then we will address any comments, questions, or thoughts on the matter, but _not_ a single moment earlier!" She said with assertiveness, not leaving any room for argument as she glared down the council. "Jiraiya. Continue."

Jiraiya eyed wearily the council for a moment, noting the sudden increase in their alertness compared to what it had been just a few minutes ago. About time the jokers started to pay attention.

"Ahem, yes." Jiraiya said clearing his voice as he resumed the account of the events in the last three years, "At any rate, The Dragon King is quite the… character. But don't forget, his power is on pair to the Kyuubi's. As my apprentices trained under my tutelage, they grew significantly as shinobi, and I am very confident that each of them can safely dispatch a chunin or two on their own."

For a second, Jiraiya paused, of only for dramatic effect. Or so it would seem to most. In truth, he was choosing his words very carefully now, lest he sparked wide spread panic by accident. He could not let the council know of the partial modification to the seals of his two students. The knowledge that the fox was, at least in a very minimal way, literally _walking_ amongst the people of Konoha would doubtlessly cause panic, and would invite many undesirable possibilities to occur. That said, he _was_ curious towards the reaction the council would have towards Naruto, the subject of hate of so many people in the village, gaining an additional… ability. He kept himself from giving a feral smirk to the council only because of his iron-hard will power as he concluded, "Additionally, Naruto and 2D have… discovered new Kekkei Genkai (blood-line limits)."

As expected, the council's reaction, who had received already several blows of shocking news within a time span that ranged from five to ten minutes, received yet an other stunning revelation, which smacked right in the brain with vengeance. Whatever the council had expected, whatever progress they had planed for, or whatever analysis of potential progress they had prior to the much-abbreviated report of the last three years had now been stomped on thoroughly by Jiraiya.

Of course, the first to recover from the shocking revelation had been the leader of the Aburame clan and father of Shino, Shibi, who like all Aburame clan members, was rather analytical and detached from most situations.

"Kekkei Geika?" Shibi asked carefully, his usually toneless voice containing a hint of curiosity that would have only been noticeable to those shinobi that were skilled at detecting such things. "I was unaware of the Uzumaki boy having any bloodline limit, Jiraiya-sama."

"That's because he didn't used to have one." Jiraiya replied in a matter of fact manner, "He gained it along with 2D, after a sort of freak accident which rearranged their genetic make up."

"How did this accident occur?" Danzo asked sharply, a glint quite visible in his one open eye as his mind already began to race with the possibilities of such 'accidents' becoming replicable. And apparently he wasn't the only one, several other members of the council, specifically the civilian council, voiced their curiosity at at how the accident occurred.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes over the whole of the council, causing them to fall silent quickly, the trickle of killing intent that he emitted from his body being more than enough to capture their attention. –_Greedy bastards…-_ He thought,_-They just want to try to replicate the incident. Well, time to burst their bubble…_-

"It was a most curious and dangerous accident. I was instructing them on the use of their respective… Tenants, for which purpose I made them spar while practicing some methods of chakra control and manipulation. As far as I can tell, their seals, which while similar contain some interesting differences, filtered their chakra along with the Chakra of their Tenants. Doing this, while they were actively manipulating, mixing, and controlling their chakra along with that of their Tenants created a sort of… resonance, I suppose you could call it. That in itself wasn't a problem. But when they began sparring while focusing their chakra in their limbs, loading them with significantly high mixed resonating chakra amounts, every time they made contact with each other their bodies began acting as a form of conduit. Their chakras somehow began resonating with each other on top of their original resonance with their own tenants, and once they somehow managed to strike each others seals…. Well… somehow they altered the seals, and due to the additional chakra of their own beasts, they each seem have absorbed some fragment of their tenant's powers in the process. From what I can hypothesize, since their seals are built to allow them to get used to their tenants progressively, the sudden jump in chakra influence in the seals somehow forced the seals to alter their bodies DNA slightly to function under the stress of the new influx of chakra, and in the process they gained some abilities thanks to their own beasts. However, the process of how and why is very murky, even for me, not to mention that the ensuing explosion from this event cleared a large portion of forestry within an instant, very nearly turned lethal."

Satisfied with his answer, Jiraiya closed his mouth to look at the council, only to be met by blank stares from nearly every face present, save for a few. Jiraiya sweat dropped and sighed as he tried to simplify.

"It as a freak accident that happened because of odd chakra behavior and massive amounts of chakra, which when combined with their seals made a big boom that nearly killed them both." Jiraiya said half heartedly, mentally grumbling about the idiocy of the council these days, not even able to comprehend his already relatively simple chakra and seal explanation and forcing him to simplify it even more.

Danzo, for his own part, seemed disgruntled by the news. Unlike most people present, he had understood Jiraiya's first explanation, and he was less than pleased with the information. It meant that replicating the accident was damn near impossible, and even if he did manage to do it, the only way to gain a Kekkei Geika would be to have a Biuju or some other creature of massive strength sealed inside your body… provided you survived the explosion, of course.

"Anything else, Jiraiya?" Danzo asked in a neutral tone.

Jiraiya shook his head, "Not really. Well…Maybe, I'll add that my apprentices have a more than decent grasp over elemental jutsu. That's all. Kakashi, your turn."

Kakashi nodded, and stood up as Jiraiya sat down. Kakashi put on his best poker face (which was a pretty damn good one) and briefly described his assessment of the two characters in question and their new team dynamics.

"…And so, over all, I think them to b a fairly well balanced team. Sakura though, she'll have to get used to working in this team. I think she is improving but the Gorilaz and Naruto work together in a far more efficient manner relative to her."

Kakashi's explanation went uninterrupted by anyone as the Council listened attentively. To the credit of Kakashi, he had maneuvered around giving any of the important jutsus that the team had used without rising any suspicions, which while not strictly necessary, it did provide an element of secrecy for his new team.

Notedly though, the majority of the Civillian council bristled when Kakashi commented on Naruto's latent talent for adjusting to situations, but remained silent under Tsunade's watchful glare.

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-(The Next Day)-

Naruto and his new team stood in front of the Hokage's desk as the blond woman looked at them with a fixed, but non-threatening glare. After the Council Meeting, Tsunade had had a chat with Jiraiya and Kakashi about team Ghost. They had reached the conclusion that for any team to become adequate for active duty, first they needed to get some hands-on experience in the field. Which was why kakashi's team was now at the Hokage's office, receiving their first official mission.

"According to Jiraiya, Ibiki, and Kakashi," Tsunade started to talk, skipping all the small talk and getting right down to business, "None of you are bellow high chunin rank, or low jonin. As such, I think a B rank mission should be adequate for your level."

She reached down and pulled a scroll from her table and handed it to Kakashi while his team chattered excitedly. Their first mission was B-rank, by passing all the tedious boredom of the D-ranked missions and more serious than a C-rank, and no one was more excited than Naruto. He had been itching for some action since they got back to Konoha, a way to test himself in a true action situation so that he could gauge his own progress.

"Hey! Quiet down! And I mean you gaki." Tsunade said as she glared pointedly at Naruto, who inturn replied by giving her a sheepish smile before turning his 'game-face' on. Admittedly, Tsunade was the most impressed not with Naruto's physical prowess development (though that in itself had improved by leaps and bounds, in her opinion), but with Naruto's attitude evolution. While he was still the happy and go-lucky brat she had known before, he was somehow more… aware, so to speak, able to mask his expressions and focus on the task at hand more readily. However, his fiery attitude hadn't changed. If anything, it might have gotten a bit worse.

"As I was saying," Tsunade continued, "This is a B-rank mission. Your job will be to escort a VIP to Kumogakure (The village hidden in the clouds). It shouldn't take you more than a week to get there, however, your stay is estimated to last roughly a week."

"Soooo… This is only a B-rank because of the VIP right?" Murdoc spoke up, "Otherwise it probably C-rank I'm guessing."

"Yes Murdoc," Tsunade replied, "That would be correct."

Murdoc nodded and crosses his arms in thought, "So this is one of those 'build up experience' jobs then. Alright, that doesn't sound too difficult."

"Don't underestimate the importance of our mission Murdoc," Kakashi spoke up, turning to face Murdoc and giving him one of his patented eye-smiles, "We might meet bandits, or rouge ninja. Even if we don't, this is a diplomatic mission, and as such our behavior is very important. You might not know this but Kumo suffered heavy losses to Konoha during the Second Great Ninja War, and there might be some among them who still bear ill will to Konoha. If we overstep boundaries we could trigger an international incident or an other war."

Kakashi's words hanged in the air like a heavy mist for a moment, sobering up the team to the realization of what their mission's true dangers were. It wasn't the bandits, nor the rouge ninja. The real danger was messing up while the diplomats talked.

Tsunade nodded and laced her fingers together, looking seriously at Team Ghost. "Its as Kakashi says. This is an extremely important mission, particularly since the talks will hopefully end with enlisting Kumo as one of our allied villages, and thereby an ally against the Akatsuki. Kakashi, your team will leave in an hour from now. That is all."

At that point there was a nock on the door, followed by Shizune's figure entering through though the doorway.

"Tsunade-sama, the next team is here for their mission."

"Alright, send them in," Tsunade said with a nod, "Kakashi's team was just leaving."

Shizune noded and slipped right out the door, followed by Team Ghost. And right before the last member in line, Naruto, slipped out the door, he turned around and gave her a wide smile.

"BYE BAA-CHAN!" Naruto shouted, before ducking away and dashing after his team, just as a paperweight flew through the doorway where he had been standing a second before, and smashing against the wall opposite to the Kage's office and creating a small crater on it with a loud banging noise that scared the crap out of the new team full of genin that was standing only a few feet away.

0-0-0-0-0

An hour later Team Ghost could be found by the gates of the village all packed up and ready to leave. The man they were to escort was Homura Mitokado, one of the Sarutobi's old teammates. Homura was an old hand at diplomacy, and his grey hair and ever-present frown upon his aged face definitely gave him the appearance of a seasoned diplomat. He, like the other two elders of the village, was not particularly fond of Naruto, viewing him as a potential threat to the village, and had been a supporter of Danzo when Danzo had suggested to have Naruto trained in ROOT under Danzo's direct supervision. However, Sarutobi had quickly turned down that possibility.

_**-THAT's **_**the VIP?-** The Kyuubi asked skeptically as he saw Homura through Naruto's eyes, **-I thought VIP's were supposed to look refined and important, not like crinkly old goats with constipation issues.-** Kurma's comment tested Naruto's will power as the boy struggled to keep from laughing, mentally ageing with the fox's comment.

Once the Homura had seated himself in a carriage pulled by four horses, he gave Kakashi a nod, signifying that he was ready. Kakashi barked an order and the whole team plus the carriage set off at a decent speed, with Noodle sitting in the driver's seat of the carriage and handling the horses.

"Team, Form around the carriage." Kakashi ordered as he positioned himself in the lead position, a few steps ahead of the carriage, "Russel, Murdoc, take the back, Naruto you are in charge of the right, and 2D you take the left."

The team set off at Kakahi's order, running in stride with the carriage that was being pulled by the trotting horses as they made their way through the countryside, a gentle breeze caressing their faces as they made progress towards their goal.

Hours later, past the time when the last of the sun's rays died out, Homura had retreated into his ample carriage to sleep after having his meal, leaving the members of team ghost to their own devices as they sat around a fire. For the most part, this included the Gorillaz answering questions that Sakura and Kakashi had about their music and Naruto inquiring about Sakura's training, along with other such things.

"Hey Naruto," Sakura asked as she stretched out her back, "How did you ever pull off painting the Hokage monument?"

"Wait what?" Russel asked with surprise, "He painted the Hokage monument?"

Kakashi nodded as he looked up from his orange book, "That he did. He painted their faces full of squiggles and childish things. He did it during the day too, painted all four of them."Kakashi reminisced with a chuckle.

Murdoc barked a laugh at the thought of that, mischief being right up his alley. "Ha! Well done shrimp! Who knew you were so ballsy." Murdoc said with a chuckle.

Naruto smirked back at Murdoc before answering Sakuras question, "Actually it wasn't so hard you know? I started painting when the sun was starting to come up."

"And? What does that have to do with it?" Sakura asked with a confused look on her face.

"The sun always hits the Hokage monument's faces when it rises." Naruto replied, a smirk starting to grow slowly on his lips.

"Aaaaand?" Sakura asked again, her mind now fully engaged on understanding where Naruto was going with this.

"What color does the monument look when the sun rises?" Naruto asked as he tried to fight down the grin on his face as he looked at the rest of his team's perplexed faces.

"Well its orange, duh." Sakura replied, her voice tinged with frustration at not seeing what Naruto was alluding to.

"Exactly." Naruto said, desperately trying to hold in his grin a bit longer.

"What do you mean 'exactly!?" Sakura asked with an irritate tone to her voice.

"Sakura…" Kakashi said as he smiled behind his mask, "What did Naruto use to wear?"

"Kakashi-sensei, everyone knows that Naruto used to wear that bright and orange jump…suit…" Sakura replied as her eyes widened. That's when it clicked for Sakura, as did for everyone else. The reason why no one had seen him until he was done was simply because no one _could_ see him. His bright orange jumpsuit had actually blended in perfectly with the bright orange reflection of the monument's rocky surface. Additionally, the paint would actually be a good reflector of light as long as it was wet too, meaning that it would be hard to see for a time.

That's when Naruto couldn't hold it any longer and allowed himself to give a full blown grin to his teammates, chuckling a little as he remembered his glorious pranking days. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't pranked anyone in a long time… maybe he should get a back into it. Hell, he could turn it into training.

"That's…. that's actually pretty clever." Sakura admitted, legitimately surprised by her teammate's intelligence.

**-It seems like the Kurama's vessel is quite creative.-** Ventus pointed out in 2D's head, _**-**_**Tricky kid, he acts like a bit of a fox himself sometimes.-** Ventus added with mild amusement, making 2D agree with the dragon mentally. He'd sparred enough with the kid to know that he could pull some pretty unconventional moves sometimes.

"Hey don't sound so surprised." Naruto said with a pout, "I have my moments."

The team shared a short chuckle at that before Noodle spoke up this time, voicing her question.

"Hey, actually, 2D, Naruto, I was actually wondering what it felt like to… well, you know, have a mighty creature captured inside you? Its just so hard to imagine what it be like that I was curious."

2D and Naruto looked at each other briefly before turning back to their teammate.

"Well…." 2D began as he tried to explain," It's actually not so bad."

"Yeah," Naruto nodded in agreement, "Its actually pretty cool. We get some pretty nifty benefits. Extra-powerful second chakra, quick healing, enhanced senses, high stamina, and all that. Its actually a pretty sweet package. The only real downside is people being paranoid about you and when your tenant wont shut up. The Kyuubi can really bitch about stuff when he wants to." Naruto said seriously, causing the others to metaphorically sweatdrop.

**-Shut up ningen,-** the Kyuubi grumbled in Naruto's mind,** -Being stuck with you is irritating as hell sometimes. I would like to meet some one that could be stuck in your gut for years and not say a damn thing about it.-**

The rest of the night passed with some more chatting before Kakashi called it a day for the team, ordering Murdoc to start with watch and get Russel after four hours to witch the watch.

0-0-0-0-0

The trip to Kumo was pretty mundane and boring. The only incident they had was an encounter with dozen of bandits that thought it would be a good idea to attack a group of Ninja. The Bandits were thoroughly within an inch of their lives within two minutes of the fighting having started. The one that actually managed to slip in his a attack and touch Sakura's rear had been particularly unlucky, feeling the wrath of a chakra enhanced kick to the groin. Naruto still cringed when he thought of that. The poor bastard would never have children now.

As far as training went, Naruto and 2D used their Kage Bushin to practice their jutsu, sending them in waves of a dozen of each to train, while the other members of Team Ghost practiced a simple water condensation jutsu Kakashi had taught them which burned very little chakra, but was useful for gathering water out of the air around them. This, he had explained, was useful for when caring for a sick or injured comrade, since water could be gathered on the spot without needing to leave the side of the weakened person.

On the evening of the sixth day of their travel, not long before they reached the location of Kumogakure, Kakashi reminded his team of the importance proper behavior. He also saw it fit to remind them that Kumo was the second most militarized ninja village, and stirring up trouble could definitely end up very badly for them, considering they would be in the center of said village. If anyone in Kumo tried to start up something they were to avoid violence unless absolutely necessary, and even then it should be used with discretion, lest they triggered an international incident.

Soon thereafter, the team reached the top of the mountain on which Kumo's gates were situated. The team came to a stop as they reached the gate, finding two whole teams keeping watch over the gates. To the members of the team ghost, this spoke volumes about the kind of manpower that the village had. The team remained quiet as Kakashi went over to the guarding squads to show them the papers that would grant them all access to Kumo, and quickly returned to his team as the large oak doors of the gate folded inwards and opened up to let them in.

"Look alive, team!" Kakashi said with a cheery voice, "We are going to go to the hotel first, drop off our things and get set up for our stay. After that, the elder will give us our orders."

Getting a round of nods from his underlings, everyone got into position and made their way into the village, taking their time to admire the construction of the village. The village itself was constructed on a cluster of relatively tightly packed mountain peaks, which, Naruto noted, would make this a difficult place to attack. The village was actually constructed so that it most buildings were built partially _into_ the mountain peaks that encompassed the village, with a few building wedged in between mountain peaks. It was quite the complex array, truth be told. There were small valleys in between peaks some times, linking the buildings and acting as small parks or boulevards that connected certain buildings, but for the most part, it seemed like the village connected itself through a maze of bridges.

"Damn climate…" Murdoc grumbled aloud as he walked along with the others, "Who makes a village this high up in the mountains anyways?"

"Common Mudz," Russel replied, "It aint that bad. Plus its actually a pretty good place for a ninja village."

"Well of course you are okay." Murduc replied with a glare, "Look at you. All that fat and muscle must be protecting you from all the accursed cold. It has to be less than ten degrees Celsius here!"

"Watch it," Russel said with a half hearted glare at the green man, "Don't make get the woop on yo' ass. And why are you complaining? Look at my baby girl, she is aint complaining, neither is any one else."

"Hey, its not fair." Murdoc replied, "She's got that supper soldier thingy going for her, of course she isn't cold yet. The dullard and the whiskered shrimp each got a beasty that gives them physical boosts, and Kakashi is an elite ninja even amongst jonin. If you think about it I'm the only normal person here."

"'Normal' my ass." Russel replied with a snort, "You got yo' ass chased by demons, mafia, drug dealers, you practice voodoo-hoodoo shit, and you are green. What part of that is normal?"

"Fuck you, Russ." Murdoc grumbled, "You know what I mean. And you still haven't answered why would someone make a village all the way up here."

"Actually," Kakashi said as he appeared beside Murdoc while he read his orange Icha-Icha book, making both Russel and Murdoc jump in surprise, "I can answer that."

"Son of a-!" Murdoc started to swear, before the obvious question rolled from his lips, "When the hell did you get here? Better yet, how the fuck did you hear me? You were at least twenty meters in front of us just a minute ago!"

Kakashi just gave Murdoc one of his patented eye-smiles and replied, "I have exceptional hearing. And I got here just a few seconds ago. As for your question about why build a ninja village here, its actually quite simple. Here, if they were to be attacked, they would have the advantage of elevation, forcing enemies to attack from a lower position, additionally, the terrain would be treacherous for those unused to fighting on gravel or other rocky surfaces, and the air is thinner up here than at sea level, so any invading troops would get worn out faster than normal while the ninja that are born and raised here would be able to fight to their full potential since they are already used to the elevation. To top it off, if the village walls were to be breached, any invading force would have trouble spreading out, forcing them to use the bridges and narrow paths, which would allow the defending ninja to block, ambush, and otherwise immobilize a larger force than theirs. There are a few more advantages of course, and also there are draw backs, but these advantages are obviously very useful for a shinobi village." Kakashi said as he finished his short analysis of Kumo, leaving Murdoc and Russel staring at him with their jaws hanging open.

"Scary how you analyze things so fast." Murdoc finally pointed out.

Kakashi just chukled and started walking back to his original position to the front of the carriage. "Its part of my job."

Soon after Kakashi's analytical revelation, the group reached the hotel in which they would be staying. It was a tall building that was seemingly half buried on the side of a mountain peak, not far from the center of the village. As one would expect, the VIP, namely Homura, got a suite near the top of the hotel while the seven members of team Ghost split three rooms amongst themselves, consisting of Naruto, Kakashi, and 2D taking one room (Much to Noodle's disappointment, since she had grown used to living with 2D in an apartment), Murdoc and Russel taking a second room right across the hall, and Sakura and Noodle right next door to the room being shared by Kakashi and the beast-enhanced duo.

Once everyone got organized, Kakashi called them all out to the hallway to discuss the next step. "Alright, here is the deal. Homura has requested us to accompany him to his meetings. Well… almost all of us." Kakashi gave Naruto and 2D an apologetic smile. "All of us but you two."

Everyone blinked at that, save for Naruto, who rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Why?" Naruto asked, obviously not overjoyed at being excluded.

"Homura is…" Kakashi began, trying to pick his words carefully, considering the possibility of someone trying to listen onto their conversation, "Biased against individuals with dual powers."

Naruto blinked and frowned, right away catching on to what he was saying. Not that he was the only one. Everyone in Team Ghost understood exactly what Kakashi was saying: Homura didn't like Naruto and 2D simply because they had Super-powered up monsters in them. And that didn't sit well with anyone in the team. However, a mission is a mission, and they had to follow the rules.

"Alright. So what are we supposed to do? Sit down and twiddle our thumbs for the whole week?" Naruto asked sarcastically, though there was no real ill-intent to his words.

"You are allowed to explored the village." Kakashi said with an eye-smile. "Just try to not cause any trouble."

Naruto scoffed at that. "Me cause trouble? How would I do that?"

Kakashi gave him a deadpan look and Naruto sweatdropped at that. "Right… never mind. I'll try to keep in line Kakashi-sensei."

"Good." Kakashi said with a nod, "Everyone is dismissed for the day. Get some good rest on you, we've been on the road for a while and it would do you all good."

And with that, the team scattered back into their rooms to get some sleep.

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**AAAAAAAND CUT! There we are. A fresh, brand new chapter, just like a promised. O tried to make it a little longer to make up for the long wait. I hope you all liked it! This is the first mission of team Ghost! WOOHOO! Get ready, cause this could get heavy! MUAHAHAHAHA!**

**On that note, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Freedragon, logging out.**


	12. Chapter 12

**AAAAAAANDD guess who boys and girls and any other life form that is reading this! Yes its me, the dragon is back!**

Alright, alright, so thank you

_**SOOOOOO**_** much to those that reviewed. I got to say it was a weird chapter in terms of feed back. I got 4 more favorite subscriptions and 3 subscriptions for alerts to the story after I posted it, but I only got 3 reviews which kinda had me confused considering that's about half of what I usually get. **

_**PLEASE**_** do leave a review. It helps me get inspiration to make more of the story going. More reviews make me want to write the story more. Any ideas or suggestions for the story are welcome too.**

**That said, I think you are all here for more of my story right? So buckle up and get ready, because You are entering my world now!**

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**Chapter 12: Recruiting time!**

"... And remember, stay out of trouble." Kakashi finished telling Naruto and 2D as he started walking towards the door of their hotel room, "We'll be back as soon as we as the Elder has concluded his conference for the day."

"We get it Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said as he rolled his eyes at the copy-cat ninja. Seriously, what was he expecting him to do? Start a fire?

Kakashi briefly paused while he closed the door behind him and looked at Naruto and 2D meaningfully, and promptly proceeded to finish closing the door of the hotel room. Once he closed the door, Kakashi frowned as he felt a briefly lived chill run down his spine. Somehow, he had the feeling that something was going to happen. It was as if the soft smacking sound of closing that simple hotel door had acted as the hammer of a judge, finalizing some decree.

As far as Kakashi was concerned though, whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, that was up for debate. Not that he could do anything right now anyways, considering that the mission he and the non-vessel members of his team had at the moment allowed no deviation from punctuality (much to his disappointment), and therefore there wasn't anything else he could do.

So all that Kakashi could do was sigh as he joined the rest of the team just down the hall.

"Are you okay Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, noting her sensei's out of place sigh.

"Don't worry about it," Kakashi replied as he reached and passed them, causing them to formed up behind him, following his lead, "It's probably nothing"

-_I hope.._.- Kakashi added mentally to himself.

0-0-0-0-0

Naruto and 2D had barely been five minutes alone before Naruto started to itch for something to do, passing back and forth across the room with a frown on his face, apparently in deep thought, while 2D sat on his bed cross legged and watched him walk back and forth across the hotel room.

"Sooo..." 2D began, "what are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking what to do." Naruto replied without breaking stride, "we can't stay here ALL day! That would totally suck... You don't suppose we could use the training grounds, do you?"

2D scratches his cheek and squinted his eyes in thought, "Mmmm... I dunno... Couldn't that be dangerous? Like I mean, Kakashi said that some of these Kumo folk are really paranoid and some don't really like Konoha."

"Yeah, but so what?" Naruto asked with a snort, "It's not like we are going in looking for a fight, right?"

"But um..." 2D said uncertainly. Despite the fact that what his blonde friend said did in a way make sense, he still had his doubts. Couldn't their training and sparring be considered an display of power to intimidate Kumo...? Well... He supposed that that was a bit far fetched... Plus there would need to be _someone_ watching them for that to happen anyways... "Well... I suppose we could."

"Great!" Naruto replied with a toothy smile, "Let's go then!"

Naruto turned around quickly and grabbed the keys to the apartment room that Kakashi left for them and tossed one to 2D, who caught it in mid air and put it in his pocket as he stood up to follow the whiskered blond ninja.

"Any idea where we are going?" 2D asked as they walked down the bridge that led towards the east side of the village, noticing the variety of glances their mere presence attracted. There were a fair few indifferent glances, other people casted the duo glances of reserved respect, and yet a few others more or less glared at them in a quite unfriendly manner. Fortunately, the people glaring at them were a considerable minority when compared to the rest.

"...Not in the slightest." Naruto replied with a sheepish grin, confirming 2D's suspicions that they were just wandering around.

The duo walked around the village with out any worries for a while, pointing out mildly interesting things to each other, and commenting on things they found odd for whatever reason.

Speaking of interesting findings, something that Naruto found particularly interesting was how the eyes of the female population seemed to gravitate towards them, and stay fixed on them, much more frequently than the male part of the population. More than once he felt a small chill run down his spine as he felt the eyes of a few girls around his age staring at him, which frequently caused him to turn to look at said group and thus pull some sort of invisible trigger that would make the group of girls to start whispering and giggling. It was... Odd. It reminded him a bit of how the girls back in Konoha treated Sasuke... He shook his head disbelievingly to rid his head of such thoughts. After all, there was no way right?

Wrong. A female voice soon proved that.

"He seems kinda cute though..."

Naruto gawked and tripped over his own foot, and would have face-planted onto the ground, had it not been for 2D who managed to snatch the back of his jacket and pull him upright. Mumbling his thanks to 2D, he found his face warming up as he acquired a light rosy blush due to the words had just heard, a blush that only deepened when his ears picked up the sound of girly giggling voices behind him.

Naruto managed to gather up the courage to throw a glance over his shoulder, which rewarded him with the sight of three girls looking at him, one of which was apparently particularly interested in him and gave him wink and smile combination, making Naruto's dying blush to come back as if it hadn't ever began to fade in the first place.

Offering her shy smile that sent the girls into an other round of giggles, Naruto quickly ducked his head back and turned around once more to face the direction he and 2D had been walking before he nearly fell. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for him to calm down his speeding heart rate and rid himself of the blush that had adorned his face moments ago.

It was... Odd. He wasn't used to any female openly calling him attractive. Hell, he wasn't even used to receiving ANY compliments from any females his age! The closest he had come to that was when Noodle praised his progress in his training when they sparred, and _she_ was a good three years older than he was. This realization changed the look of stunned surprise in his face to a frown.

"Well this sucks." Naruto grumbled to himself with a frown as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"What does?" 2D asked curiously, his enhanced hearing picking up Naruto's words.

"That I have near no experience with girls." he said with a disgruntled voice, "I mean seriously, the closest I ever came to a romantic relationship was chasing Sakura around for years, only to always be rejected. I can't get a single girl to look at me in Konoha, but we've barely walked around Kumo for an hour or two in total and suddenly girls are giving me winks and smiles."

2D blinked at him and wrinkled his nose for a moment as he thought up a reply.

"Well... Why don't you practice?"

Naruto looked at to the with a half-hearted irritated glare. "D, didn't you hear hat I just say? I can't even get taken seriously enough to be considered dating material."

2D nodded and looked at him with a smile, which actually irked Naruto more than he would like to admit.

"Yes," 2D replied, "But that's in Konoha, not here."

Naruto started to open his mouth to say something that would contradict the blue haired ninja, but closed it as the implications of what 2D had said started to sink in, making him stop dead in his tracks and snap his mouth shut as he mulled over the words of the black-eyed singer. He had a point, now that he thought about it. No one knew him here aside of his team. As far as the people of Kumo knew, and more importantly, as far as the female population of Kumo knew, he was just an other available foreign shinobi.

A smirk started to expand across his face as he thought about it. They didn't know about him, or his pranks, or his 'Furry Problem' , or his reputation. Here, he was a clean slate. And as far as anyone in Kumo was concerned, he was free game. By the time he realized all this, his grin had turned into a gleeful fox-like smile.

"Um, Naruto?"2D asked as he waved a hand in front of the shorter blonde ninja, a curious raised eyebrow signifying his concern at the whiskered-ninja's sudden stop.

Naruto refocused his eyes on his friend with a wondrous gaze, as if he ha been suddenly enlightened and tackle-hugged 2D, driving air out I his lungs with the impact.

"2D, you are a genius!" Naruto said gleefully as he let go of the tall man.

"Uh... Thanks?" 2D replied with some confusion.

"How do I do it?" Naruto suddenly asked seriously.

"Do what?" 2D asked blankly.

"Practice. How do I talk to girls? How do I even get them to like me?"

"Ah, well..." 2D quipped in understanding, once again squinting as he thought about it, "well there are some general rules that can help, and I suppose I can give you some advice..."

He turned to look at Naruto, and he was surprised to find him giving him his undivided attention, which didn't occur with frequency. Naruto's gaze was do intense he almost expected Naruto to pull out a notepad and a pencil and start taking notes... Weird. Nonetheless, strangely satisfying. With a confident smile, 2D started giving Naruto a quick introductory crash course on the art of talking to women.

"Well, there are three main ways guys attract girls: action, quality, and speech. Action is catching their attention by doing something physically, like being the best at basketball, or being athletic and showing off. Quality refers to a quality a person has, like being intelligent, looking good, or having an attitude that the girl likes, so it's often a passive thing. Speech refers to actually engaging them verbally. Talking is a very powerful tool that can make up for a lot."

"Of course," 2D continued, "there are many other ways to attract attention, like being famous, or rich, but the main thing is to make the girl notice you, and NOT in a negative way. Basically, you have to set yourself apart from others, don't be just some other guy. Now, you can go about chasing a girl in many ways, aggressively, or passively. For example, going out of your way and talking to them, directly engaging them in conversation, and showing interest in them is a good way to start. One thing to keep in mind though, don't be scared or nervous. Be friendly and confident, don't be afraid of teasing them a bit and cracking a joke or two if you want, don't be afraid to give them a compliment or two, but remember, moderation is key. Don't wash them in jokes or drown them in compliments, otherwise your words don't mean as much. Last point of note, and probably the most important one... Be yourself."

Naruto blinked at that last point 2D made. "Be myself? No offense D, but that has to be the most cliché thing you've ever said."

"Ah! But it's true." 2D said with a smirk, "Just do what you want to and have fun. No need to pretend you are someone else."

"Just be me huh?" Naruto asked thoughtfully as they rounded an other corner, "Alright, I can handle that. Anything else?"

2D frowned as he thought things over. There were _many_ things he could suggest, but in reality, that was the basics of it. "Well... That's mostly it. You'll learn on your own as you practice. And if not... Well... I'll give you a hand if you need it."

Naruto grinned at him, "Thanks! It's nice to know I can ask someone for dating advice that _isn't_ like Kakashi or Jiraiya." A shiver went down Naruto's spine at the thought. If he asked them about it, he'd likely end up labeled a pervert on his first date. As it was, he had already been partially contaminated by their influence, and he wasn't looking forward to becoming more like them in that regard.

2D gave Naruto his patented smile and ruffled the blonde's hair. When the duo finally looked around to orient themselves, they realized that somehow they had wandered pretty far from the center of the village, far enough that the houses that were around the area were few and scattered over the mountainous landscape.

They rounded a corner and found themselves in a small valley in between the mountains, about the same size as the training ground Naruto had used during Kakashi's first test back when Sasuke was on his team. However, the clearing wasn't empty, at its center, two tan skinned ninja were sparring with each other with their swords. The duo looked on for only a moment before 2D nudged Naruto with his elbow, signaling to him that they should turn around. Naruto nodded at him and they both turned on their heels, barely starting to walk away before a calm female voice rang out from behind them.

"You there, halt."

Looking at each other briefly with something akin to surprise, the two males in question turned around to face the source of the voice. Barely thirty feet away from them stood a busty female ninja that looked only a couple years older than Naruto, with blue eyes and blond hair that was nearly shoulder length. Outfitted in a low-cut short skirt and wearing an undershirt of mesh armor, the girl was a chunin rank, if the Kumo flack jacket wrapped around her waist was anything to go by (on a side note, Naruto suspected she only wore the vest around her waist because her breasts were too big for it to close properly, if it would close at all). Naruto also took notice of the sword hanging horizontally from her back.

The girl looked them over, noticing the metallic Konoha head bands around Naruto's forehead an 2D's neck.

"So, spying on us, are you?" The girl stated.

"Spying? Look, we weren't spying alright?" Naruto replied, his tone betraying that he took offense at the girl's statement, "We were just looking for a place to train, we didn't even know you guys were sparring until we saw your other two team mates going at it."

"He is right Miss...?" 2D added.

"Samui."The girl said readily when she felt 2D reaching for her name, her tone carefully neutral, "No need for the 'Miss'. However, now you have me at a disadvantage, you know my name and I do not know yours."

"Ah, right," 2D said amiably. Always the advocate for a diplomatic (or at least the most non-violent) approach whenever it could be helped, 2D offered her a disarming smile and offered his own name, "A pleasure. I'm 2D."

"And I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto added, following the lead of the taller man. The last thing they needed was being considered spying in the middle of a diplomatic mission.

Nodding in acknowledgement of the names, Samui managed to keep her neutral facial expression, even though she had to admit that the blue-haired singer had quite a charming smile, and continued, " What are you two even doing in Kumo?"

"We were charged with being part of a team," Naruto started, "to safely bring a VIP for a diplomatic mission. We were given free time and we were just wandering around. Can we go now? We don't want to make huge fuzz about this."

2D's ear twitched slightly as he heard movement behind him, and saw Naruto's jaw tighten from te corner of his eye, signifying he had heard the sound too. Most wouldn't have, but thanks to their enhanced senses, they were able to pick up the sound of light footed foot-steps trying to make their way behind them.

"So tell your team that there is no need to try to cut off our exits...please." Naruto stated loudly, nearly missing the slight rise of Samui's brow, which was the only sign that demonstrated her surprise at Naruto's ability to detect her teammates.

Apparently Samui's team had heard Naruto, because they stopped sneaking and jumped out of their hiding spots and began walking towards them cautiously. Turning their heads to look at the two other members of Samui's team, the Konoha ninjas saw that both remaining members of Samui's team were tanned skinned and both older than Naruto by a few years. The male had white hair and wore a pair of grey pants, and a grey hoodie with the white Kumo flak jacket over it, while the female had had a long mane of red hair and ember colored eyes, her hitai-ate in a bandanna, a grey short sleeved long dress, and like the male next to her, the Kumo flak jacket. To top it all off, both of the new faces had a katana strapped to their backs, labeling them as competent sword users.

Releasing an exasperated sigh, Naruto turned back to face Samui, "Can we go now?" he repeated as he tried to mask the tone of irritation that was leaking into his speech, with some success.

The white haired boy looked him over with a frown, "He looks suspicious. Look at his face; those six lines. They could be scars. Maybe he got them after several dangerous missions, which means he could be very dangerous since he is still alive. And the tall one, look at his eyes. They are completely black. It could totally be a bloodline. Maybe he is an eye user like the Hyuga. What if they saw everything and they are going to report it?"

Naruto had to actively refrain from rolling his eyes and giving an aggravated sigh. -Great,- Naruto thought with increasing irritation, -the kid is more paranoid than Ibisu. That's just fantastic. What next? The redhead is going to turn out to be a hot head?-

"So have you figured out what these two were doing?" the redhead asked Samui.

"They say that they were looking for a place to train."

The redhead snorted, "Yeah right, like anyone is stupid enough to try to train in a foreign nation."

That comment made Naruto's eye twitch ever so slightly, and it was yet another sign that his patience was wearing thin. At this point 2D was growing concerned as to what he might do if this continued for much longer. While Naruto wasn't as impatient as he had been three years ago, he still wasn't exactly the most patient person alive.

"I'm not stupid, damn it!" Naruto growled out, "I just wanted to train. What the hell is wrong with that?"

The red head whipped her was around to face Naruto, bristling at Naruto's tone of voice. "Many things! First of all, why would anyone risk having their techniques copied or analyzed by training inside any other village other than their home village? And why would any village let foreign ninja train in their village without any paperwork? Anyone that stumbles Into the training grounds that the foreign ninja are using can be accused of spying or trying to steal their techniques and that could be used for political leverage." The red head snapped back at him, "So why in blue blazes would anyone do that?"

Naruto grumbled but took a deep breath to steady himself and replied. "Look, I didn't think about it like that. We just wanted to train. That's it. Can we go _now_?"

"I don't think so." The redhead said as she glared at the blonde, "We haven't cleared up anything yet."

Naruto growled again and this time turned to look at Samui and crossed his arms, "Look we are being nice about this, so please _move_ and let us go back to the hotel, or we will move you all for you."

2D looked at Naruto with a startled look on his face, "Hey Naruto-"

"Oh is that so?" Samui replied, cutting off 2D before he finished talking as she started to leak killing intent, her face still perfectly neutral, "Think you two can take three chunnins all at once?"

"Naruto-" 2D started again.

"Oh I don't _think_ we can," Naruto said cutting off 2D, "I _know_ we can!"

"Naruto!" 2D said loudly, ignoring the double interruption, "Don't provoke them anymore."

Naruto turned to look at his teammate full on, "But look at them! They are accusing us of crap we haven't done without even bothering to find proof, and it's like they are just looking for an excuse to pick a fight. Let's just kick their asses and go back to the hotel."

"Remember what sensei said about keeping out of trouble." 2D reminded him.

"Well, we did try to stay out of trouble, it's not my fault these guys are trying to cause trouble." Naruto grumbled, ignoring the glare of the red-hair girl, which was growing more venomous by the second.

"Hey! Don't ignore us!" the girl finally snapped, her hand reaching towards her sword.

"Oh you want to go?" Naruto growled back at her as he reached for his kunai, "Bring it on then! I'll kick your ass and international incident be damned! I've had it with trying to explain myself to you!"

"Karui! Stand down!" Samui ordered to the redhead girl. At the same time, 2D reached out and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, and shook his head at him. This wasn't the time OR the place for a fight.

Samui noted the blue-haired man's actions and eyed him appraisingly; "At least someone seems to have a good head on their shoulders."

2D only gave her a small smile in return before Samui spoke up again. "We'll take you in anyways. The Raikage will know what to do."

Had it not being for the singer's hand that was keeping a vice grip on his shoulder, Naruto might have just tried to give the foreign shinobi a piece of his mind. This was _definitely_ not what he needed right now! But before he could even voice his complain, a new female voice rang out as clear as a bell.

"What's going on here?"

All eyes turned to the newcomer, a blonde girl perhaps five or seven years older than Naruto, her blond hair tied in a ponytail, and her figure was slim but curvaceous and defined, giving an air of subtle grace to her movements. The girl came down from one of the mountainsides that bordered the clearing, leaping accurately and quickly down the natural small holds and platforms that the slope offered. At about three quarters of the way down the slope, she crouched like a cat and leaped of the steep slope of the mountain and landed softly in a four legged crouch near Samui nonchalantly, as if leaping thirty feet through the air and landing with barely a sound was an every day occurrence.

As the new girl stood up, Samui turned to her and gave the older girl a respectful bow. "We found these two Konoha ninja poking the noses around, Yugito-sama."

"For the last time," Naruto growled out as he crossed hi arms and narrowed his eyes at Samui, as if challenging her to contradict him, "we were NOT snooping around. We just wanted to train."

-Cool it kit.- Kurama'a voice rang out in Naruto's mind, -You could have taken the three stooges easily, but now that the cat is here this could get messy.-

Before Naruto could ask the fox what he was talking about, Yugito's words distracted him. "I see. Let's take him to Raikage then."

"Goddamit..." Naruto growled out in an obviously exasperated voice, "Fine, lets go and clear up all this crap."

Samui nodded and signaled to Omoi towards them. Nodding, the male Kumo ninja pulled out a rope and started towards them before Naruto threw his hands up in front of him in a halting manner. "Woah, hold it there! I'm not about to be paraded around town like a criminal. Besides, there are four of you and only two of us. I'm sure you can handle us even if you tried to get away, right?"

His last remark held a note of doubt, which obviously grated a bit on the Kumo ninja, because Samui gave Omoi a look, and he put away the rope.

"Fine, we won't tie you up," Samui said evenly, "but if you try anything we _won't_ be gentle about how we take you down."

Shrugging, Naruto nodded. "Works for me. Come on D. Let's get this over with."

The group began their trek towards the heart of the city, with the Kumo ninja forming a threefold point diamond formation around the Konoha duo, with Yugito on the lead and the three Kumo chunin placed at the left and right flanks of the Konoha ninja, with one taking the rear position.

-So... The Nibi got a girl, huh? Fitting.- Ventus commented in the mind of 2D, it's rumbling voice bringing 2D down from his reverie, causing him to focus on the voice of the Dragon Lord while his les worked in automatic mode.

-Hmm? Nibi? Who's that?-

-The Nibi is the two tailed cat.- Vetus replied, -She is a fiery one, both literally and figuratively. She's always liked to present herself as made of fire, and she can have a temper too. On the other hand, she could be quite the passionate cat.-

2D's eyes widened as he caught grasp of what his scaly friend was telling him.

-Yugito is also a container!?-

-Precisely. And her Bijuu is the two tailed cat to be exact.-

2D glanced over at Naruto from the corner of his eyes, and given the change in facial expressions, which settled into one of resignation, he assumed that the demon fox had informed the whiskered blond about Yugito's furry tenant.

Thinking it over for a moment, he wondered if Yugito had been able to tell that both, Naruto and himself, were like her. If the Kyuubi and Ventus had even able to detect the Nibi, then maybe she could do it too? If she could, and if she had let Yugito know, then she was very good at hiding her surprise... Of course, it also helped that she wasn't facing them, making it harder to detect any surprise her face might betray by default.

Now that he focused on the girl though, she _did_ have a catlike grace about her. He idly wondered if it was because of the Nibi, or if it was something she had developed herself...

"We are here to see the Raikage." Yugito announced, bringing 2D back from his reverie, making him realize for just had long he had been walking on automatic, considering he was now inside the Raikage's tower, in front of the Top floor's doorway, with Yugito talking to chunin secretary that was working behind a desk.

Surprisingly, the woman just nodded and allowed the group to pass, and to their surprise, sitting along a couple of benches in the hallway, Sakura and Noodle were engaged in a conversation while they let the adults talk inside their meeting room.

But when the girls saw their two teammates being scored right in front of them, their blood ran cold and their jaws dropped in surprise. The chances that their teammates were here because of something good were slim... VERY slim.

The two boys barely had time to smile at the girls before they were marched right into Raikage's office, the large oak doors slamming shut behind them, leaving their female teammates to stare after them with bug-eyed expressions until the large doorway swallowed their two teammates and their escorts.

"... Kakashi-sensei is going to have a heart attack." Sakura finally mumbled in shock.

All Noodle could do was nod dumbly once and try her hardest to not have a heart attack herself.

0-0-0-0-0

Inside the Railages office, a large darks lined man sat behind a fine hardwood desk, dealing with the Kage's worst enemy: Paper work! He hated the chore of doing the irritating necessity known as paper work. It was the most irritating activity he could think off, and more than once he had been tempted to set the stack of papers on fire.

Thankfully, his doors slid open giving the powerfully muscled an excuse to turn his attention away from the thrice damnable stack of papers he was working on. Giving a nearly inaudible sigh of relief, he looked at his doorway to inspect his unscheduled guests, only to be surprised to watch Yugito escorting two foreign ninja with the help of three Kumo chunin.

"Good morning Raikage -sama." Yugito said with a polite bow, which was copied by all the new arrivals to the Kage's room, even Naruto.

"Morning Yugito, to what do I owe the pleasure of a visit?" The Raikage asked as he stood up from behind his desk and put his Raikage hat on the table.

"I found these two Konoha ninja in a sort of conflict against Samui's team. I believe Samui should elaborate."

Nodding, the Raikage turned his eyes over to look at Samui, who bowed and step forward to speak. "Raikage-sama, we were in the training grounds doing our routine trying session, when we spotted these two Konoha ninjas observing our training. Considering we are Kirabi-sensei's students, we believe that they might have been trying to spy on us. Thus we approached them, and promptly escorted them here as soon as we were able to."

Naruto snorted and rolled his eyes at her. "If by 'approaching'," Naruo made air quotes when he mentioned the word, "you mean cornered, harassed, and gave us a choice between a fight and triggering a scandal or been dragged trough town to meet the Raikage, then yes, yes you did approach us."

The Raikage's eyes shifted towards Naruto, doing a double take of the blonde ninja. Likewise, Naruto got a good look at the Raikage. The tall dark skinned man looked every bit as intimidating as some rumors said, his huge muscular body reminding Naruto more of a bear than a normal human. Despite this, Naruto, as per usual, held his ground and looked right into the Kage's eyes, which surprised said Kage mildly, but didn't particularly upset him

"I am the Raikage of Kumo, my name is 'A'. What's your name boy?"

Grinning his patented vulpine grin, Naruto replied with out hesitation.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

"And you, tall one?" The Raikage asked as he turned to look at 2D.

"I'm 2D." 2D said with perfect smile, one that he had mastered after years of practice as a professional musician.

"I see." A said with a shallow nod, "And what is the business you both have in my village? Are you two on a spying mission?"

Naruto barely contained himself from smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand and sighed while 2D tried his hand at explaining.

"Well no," 2D began, "we were just looking around, maybe finding a place to train and um..."

Without really thinking, Naruto added his own bit of explanation, giving an audible sigh before saying the first thing that came to mind. "I suppose you could say that... We kinda got lost in the road of life."

0-0-0

Meantime, Kakashi suddenly felt an odd sense of accomplishment that was completely unrelated to the political talking that was going on between the representative VIP of Konoha and the advisor of Kumo.

Smiling behind his mask, and inwardly cheered, -Got one of them!-

0-0-0

Naruto felt a chill go down his spine and he had the distinct feeling he had just made someone very happy...

The Raikage ha to rise an eyebrow at Naruto's statement, but if he thought about it, it did have a double meaning and profound thought behind it... Perhaps the child wasn't a complete hot head.

Meanwhile, it was taking all of 2D's self-control to NOT tease Naruto about his excuse.

"Yo, the B is here back bro!"

A groaned and slapped his forehead as he heard the voice of his younger brother. If he hadn't known better, he could have sworn that Kirabi sometimes interrupted him on purpose at the worst times just to mess with him.

No sooner than the Raikage had thought this, the door to his office burst open and a younger (and louder) version of the Raikage, minus the goatee, barged into the room with confidence. The man walked past everyone until he was standing in front of the Kage with a smirk.

"Mission complete! It was nothing to this elite." Kirabi sang out in bad rap, which while annoying to just about  
>everyone in general, it made 2D want to cringe.<p>

A's eyebrow twitched at his little brother's entrance. "You couldn't wait until I was finished with this issue here, could you?"

Kirabi scoffed at that. "Well duh my brother, waiting is for others!"

Turning around, Kirabi looked at the other people in the room, smirking when he spotted Yugito and his team. "Oh, hey there team, how have all my students been?"

Yugito rolled her eyes, "They've been fine, but they found two uninvited ninja watching their training."

Kirabi turned his gaze towards the two Konoha ninja, and his eyebrows visibly rose from behind his dark sunglasses, "Wow, that one is tall, no wonder you saw him at all."

Everyone sweat-dropped at that comment. Potential spies right in front of him and he said that...

Kirabi, however was unconcerned, and after looking at the two Konoha ninjas for a few seconds he extend both of his fists towards them, "Yo, what's up Mr. Nine? And ..."

For once in their lives, A saw his brother struggling to find a rhyme. While he found that shocking, it also amused him to no end to see the frustration in his face.

"Er... 2D," the blue haired ninja supplied, as he and Naruto bumped fists with Kirabi, "That's my name."

Kirabi nodded and smiled at him "I'll keep that in mind, scaly man."

"B, would you stop giving them weird names?" A asked in an exasperated tone, "their names are Naruto Uzumaki and 2D. Not Scaly Man and Mr. Nine!"

Yugito shook her head, "Raikage-sama, B was referring to what they have inside rather than what their names are. The blonde is the holder of the Kyuubi and the tall one has a beast of equal power but different origin."

"Hey no fair, cat!" Kirabi stated as he stamped his foot like an upset two-hundred pound child, " why did you tell them right off the bat? I wanted them to guess what I meant by that!"

What followed was an argument between Kirabi, Yugito, and the Raikage, and by the halfway point of the three-way argument, 2D's mind started to drift away and Naruto had tuned out Kirabi's ranting, his mind wandering towards his teammates and, wouldn't you imagine, ramen.

Samui and the other chunnins, however, were staring at the Konoha ninjas with a bewildered expression. Those two foreigners were like star jounin Yugito and Kirabi-sensei and they had challenged them head on. If her team had goaded those two into actually fighting them... Samui shivered slightly at the the thought. She was very certain that it wouldn't have been pretty.

After a few minutes of non-stop ranting, Naruto finally grew tiered of their ranting and spoke up.

"Um, excuse me but can we get this sorted out? We need to go back to our team."

The three arguing adults turned their glares towards Naruto who just crossed his arms and scowled at them. He wanted to go eat ramen AND he needed to meet up with his team, damn it! Why could they just sort this out already?

The Raikage was the first to snap out of it and refocus in his two surprise Konoha guests. He looked them over again, and took into account what just had occurred. First of all, they didn't really have the attitude that a captured spy would usually have, rather, they seemed bored and even exasperated by the proceedings. Secondly, they had readily offered information about themselves that had not sounded false. Thirdly, the boy had just brought their attention BACK towards them and their predicament. Lastly, judging from the story, they were trying to avoid an international issue but had not refused to meet the Raikage. Combined, these facts pointed at innocence rather than guilt of their accused charge of espionage.

Closing his eyes, the Raikage crossed his arms and stroked his goatee and mustache with one hand, trying to tease out additional hints to the problem presented to him. However, there was one thing that bothered him...

"Why do you seek to train on a foreign Nation?" A asked as he opened his eyes, his tone even and serious, regaining the seriousness proper of a Kage.

That brought 2D back to present, and sobered up Naruto, both of them looking at each other before an unspoken agreement was reached and they turned back to the foreign Kage.

"Raikage, have you heard of the Akatsuki?" Naruto asked seriously.

The Raikage looked at the blue-eyes youth inquisitively, but responded. "Not really. At least, nothing concrete. I recall the name coming up in a few reports briefly though. Why?"

2D looked at the Raikage with an uncharacteristic serious expression. "They are basically Demon-container hunters. They hunt down jinchuriki. And they are after every single one of the tailed beasts."

Naruto had always thought the expression "you could have heard a pin drop" was an exaggeration, but after 2D's words were spoken, the silence was so absolute in the Raikage's office that he was quite sure that everyone would have been quite capable of hearing a pin dropping to the ground.

However, the shocked silence only lasted seconds before A spoke up.

"Jinchuriki hunters? That's madness! Any of the demons is nigh impossible to face by any man alone unless they were to be the fabled Sage of the Six paths. Even a Kage would be hard pressed to distract a single one of the beasts!"

2D nodded, conceding the large man's point. "That would be true usually, wouldn't it? But what if they didn't fight alone? What of I told you they fight in duos that compliment each other's skills? What if I told you every single one of the members in the group was labeled as an S-rank ninja?"

Everyone stared at the two Konoha nins, a stunned silence following 2D's words. Even Kirabi was shocked into silence, his eyebrows rising above his sunglasses.

Naruto nodded in agreement with 2D's words and continued, "The thing is, every tailed-beast is a powerhouse on its own, everyone knows that, but there is a little catch: The can't use the full power of their beast unless they have mastered it. So as long as they don't have full control of their beast, their power isn't even close to the same level as the power of the released beast."

2D followed up Naruto's comment with his own. "And the higher the Tailed beast is in the hierarchy of the tailed-beasts, the more power it has, and the harder it is to control. Which means that higher level Juinchiriki can loose control more easily than a lower tier Juinchiriki if he or she doesn't have full control of it."

By now the Raikage had recovered from his initial shock and was absorbing the information that the two Konoha nins were rolling out from their mouths. However, Kirabi's team of chunnins were still staring at the conversation with mouths agape, their minds trying to come to grasp the situation unfolding before them.

"Then we are lucky," the Raikage said confidently as he puffed up his chest and looked at his little brother, "Kirabi has already gained full control over the Hachibi's power."

Naruto's eyes flicked over to Yugito, "But she hasn't."

Yugito bristled immediately, snapping her head around to glare at Naruto.

"I'll have you know," the girl replied with a hint of ice to her calm tone, "that I can summon the Nibi in full form."

"Oh yeah? For how long?" Naruto asked pointedly.

Yugito didn't reply for a moment. While it was true that she could only manage about five minutes in full beast mode, she wasn't about to give Naruto the satisfaction of knowing that.

"Thought so." Naruto said simply, "I bet Kirabee can do it for at least half an hour, hell, maybe even hours on end. _That's_ full mastery. A couple of minutes won't make much of a difference with these people unless you are on their level."

The Raikage stood silently in thought while the Naruto and Yugito glared at it each other half-heartedly. After the brief pause in the conversation, A addressed the Konoha nins.

"I see Naruto-san. However, what you are claiming is hard to accept at face value. I will have to consider this matter with time and with care. You are all dismissed, but before you all go," A said before anyone could turn to leave, "I dot want any word of this to be spread around the village as of yet. This is a delicate and confidential matter. Understood?"

All Kumo ninja in the room replied with a "Hai! (yes!)" and the chunin bowed respectfully at the Kage.

"Good," A said with a nod, "Now, Yugito, Team B, please escort 2D-san and Naruto-san to their hotel. They are here by cleared from suspicion of espionage."

Nodding dumbly, the still shocked chunin team followed Yugito's lead and bowed to their Kage before exiting the room with Naruto and 2D.

0-0-0-0-0

The mixt group of Kumo and Konoha ninjas left the Raikage's building without uttering a word until they doors closed behind them, each immersed in their own thoughts, contemplating their resent talk with the Raikage. At which point, 2D, true to his somewhat distracted but cheery attitude, was the first to break the silence. "Ever wondered why how come the word 'naruto' went from being an other name to describe a famous maelstrom to being the name of a ramen topping?"

Everyone stared blankly at him for a moment.

"Cause you know," He continued absentmindedly, "Uzumaki means like, vortex or spiral or whirlpool, right? So like, if we thought about it in the old meaning, your name," He pointed at Naruto, "would be something really cool like 'Spiraling Maelstrom' or 'Maelstrom Vortex' but if you take it in a more common day meaning it means something like, 'Fishcake Whirlpool' or 'Fishcake Vortex' which is kinda detracts from the awesome value of your name…"

Naruto gave his friend a deadpan look before replying, "D, from where in Kami's name did that come from?"

Like a damn bursting open, Naruto's last comment gave way to giggling fit to Kumo ninja, even Samui let out a very brief stifled snort of amusement before she regained control of her out ward appearance, inwardly mortified that she had let her face slip around foreign ninja. Her dad would have been mortified too! Her family was considered one of the most calm and level headed clans in Kumo, their analytical abilities and personalities comparable to Konoha's Aburame clan.

In fact, the only really noticeable differences between them and the Aburame where the obvious different taste in attires and the fact that the Aburame worked with bugs, her clan was more or less similarly structured in regards to their way of thinking to that of the Aburame, in which they valued levelheadedness and the ability to analyze situations with as little bias and as much reason as possible. Notably though, Samui's clan did have two more subtle differences when compared to the Aburames' way of life: Firstly, Samui's clan members, while stoic as a general rule, where more likely to open up to other and give brief displays of emotions from time to time than the Aburame, and secondly, their personalities could be somewhat more aggressive in perusing mates.

But of course, our to Konoha heroes didn't know that, and hence, it barely registered for them that Samui had found their unexpected brief conversation amusing.

"Well I dunno…" 2D replied to Naruto's remark, "It just kinda popped up in my head that Fishcakes were a whole lot less intimidating than a Maelstrom."

Karui no openly laughed, holding her belly for a moment. "Oh Kami! Can you imagine that Omoi?" She said in between small fits of laughter, "The fearsome nine-tailed fox sealed inside fishcake! Oh lawd, hahahahaha!"

Karui strated up again on second fit of laughter as Naruto's eye twitched at her comment. "

"Yeah well, Your name means 'light' or 'non-serious' right?" Naruto replied with an irritated tone, "I guess it suits you, cause I can't take you seriously as girl with a chest that flat!"

Karui stopped laughing instantly as soon as Naruto said that, pinning him with a venomous glare, while Samui started to turn pink as she struggled not to laugh.

"Oohh…. Zing!" Omai exclaimed under his breath as he looked at Naruto with a mixture of pitty and newfound respect, "You shouldn't have said that…"

"Oh really?" Naruto replied offhandedly, "And what's she going to do about it? Its not like there is anything there anyways. Kami knows that I'm right."

-_Ooohh boy…-_ Omoi thought to himself as he heard Naruto talk. This would definitely not end with a simple "I'm sorry" at this point, not with Karui.

" . …!" Karui Growled at him. Karui had instantly began to leaking killing intent at Naruto's words, feeling rage well up inside her, a rage that only increased when Naruto gave her with a crazy smirk and laughed.

"You want some? Come get some!" Naruto screamed behind him as he laughed like a happy lunatic and took off at high speed, running through Kumo with Karui hot on his trail.

2D blinked at the scene and turned to look at the remaining Kumo ninja. "I think we should go after them."

Omoi nodded, Yugito briefly agreed, and Samui… well… she nodded eagerly, not trusting her voice at the moment. She refused to laugh at such a childish display in front of a total stranger such as 2D. She was supposed to be the squad leader after all, and she wanted to act the part impeccably in front of such high profile ninja such as 2D and Naruto… or at least 2D, considering Naruto wasn't here at the moment.

The search party took off after the two hotheaded ninja, with 2Dand Yugito slightly in the lead as the Kumo ninja tried to make conversation with 2D. Admittedly, it was the two remaining females of the team that seemed to want to talk more to the tall man.

Naruto, on the other hand, was still laughing his ass of while he ran all over town while Karui swore like a sailor after him, much to the amusement of the locals, particularly when he decided to pick things up a notch and start shamelessly flirting with the irritated girl. Ironically, this had a double effect: It irritated her that even going at her top speed Naruto was not only fast enough to outrun her, but also fast enough that he would backtrack, come up beside her and drop compliments and winks at her while dodging her angry fist. On the flip side, she had barely ever received any flirty comments in her life, and that was in part due to her hot-headed personality and at times violent reactions, and it was for that reason that she became flustered whenever Naruto would close the gap between them and start his flirting assault on her.

She wouldn't admit it, but it was kinda…. Nice, in a way, to receive that kind of attention.

Eventually Naruto and Karui ended up in the clearing where they had first met. Landing on the center of the clearing, Naruto summersaulted away from his landing spot just as Karui drove her heel down on the space where Naruto's head had been only a second ago.

"Aggressive, aren't you?" Naruto said with a foxy smile, obviously taking2D's advice of doing whatever he felt like doing to heart, "I like it!"

"Stay still so I can get you!" Karui shot back at him with an ever so slight rosy tinge of color creeping into her cheeks even as she jumped after him and swung at him with her left fist.

Dodging the fist with practiced ease, Naruto, ducked under her fist and slid around to her left side as her arm stretched out in a fluid motion, coming up again right beside her and whispering in her ear suggestively, "If you want me you just have to ask nicely."

Her blush deepening, Karui used the rotatory momentum from her failed punch and used it to spin around on her foot, bringing up her right elbow at eye level in an attempt to nail Naruto on his face with her elbow. The tactic, unfortunately for her, failed when her elbow hit empty air. Surprised by the blond ninja's sudden disappearance act, she swung wildly her head around in search for him, only to freeze when her nose came literally within an inch of Naruto's own nose, his eyes staring right into her own, looking past her even.

"You know, you have really bright eyes." Naruto pointed out casually, his eyes holding their stare into her own eyes, completely oblivious to the fact that she was growing more flustered by the second.

"You too." Karui responded without thinking, her eyes widening in disbelief as she realized her own words before clamping her mouth shut and refocusing her gaze on Naruto's eyes. Now that she thought about it, he had really warm looking eyes… Karui slapped her self mentally and started trying to whack Naruto with her fists again, restarting the attack-and-dodge cycle.

It was then that 2D and the others found Karui and Naruto in the clearing, with Naruto dodging the attacks that Karui was throwing at him left, right, and center.

"I could use some help here!" Karui called out to her team mates irritably as she kept missing Naruto's always by a small distance, her fist only managing to hit empty space.

"I don't know Karui!" Omoi called back at her from the edge of the clearing, "It seems like a pretty personal match to me! I don't think it would be fair to interfere!"

"Are you goddamn kidding me?!" Karui roared back at him.

"Well…" 2D called out, "Why not have a spar? It should be okay then, right?"

"Works for me!" Naruto called out as he side stepped away from a roundhouse kick from Karui, before leaping backwards and putting some distance between him and the hotheaded girl, "Then I don't have to hold back as much!"

"Yugito, can you referee?" 2D asked

"Only if you stay out of it too," Yugito replied with a bit of a smile, "It wouldn't be fair if only I had to stay out."

2D frowned a bit before Naruto's voice interrupted his thoughts, "I can handle them D, no worries."

"Well aren't you the confident?" Karui growled at him.

"Lets just say I'm well equipped… And I don't just mean for fighting." Naruto said giving her a playful wink, which left the girl blinking for a moment as she tried to connect the dots to what he meant. It only took her second, but it seemed that she made the connection, if the returning blush was any sign to go by.

2D nodded at Naruto, ignoring his last remark, and went to sit on a boulder by the edge of the clearing while Samui and Omoi went towards their third teammate and Naruto. "Just don't use the Kyuuby's power Naruto!"

Naruto nodded back at him and turned his attention back to his challengers. "So how are we going to do this?" Naruto asked Samui's team, "Are you coming at me one by one, or are you coming all at once?"

Omoi looked at Naruto doubtfully, "Three on one? Are you serious?"

"Yeah get real," Karui added,"I kept missing you only by a bit just now. With a kunai in hand or our swords you would have gotten minced. Do you actually believe you can take us all at once?"

Naruto gave Karui a deadpan look before responding sarcastically, "No, I just said that cause I thought I would get cut and beat within an inch of my life and I just thought that would be fantastic." The sarcasm was so thick that Karui had the decency to look a little bit bit abashed about her question, "Of course I believe can kick your butts all at the same time."

"Are you sure?" Samui added with a bit of hesitancy, after all, the kid didn't wear a vest, so he was probably still a genin, and without using any help from his inner friend, a genin versus three chunin was equivalent to putting a Chihuahua to fight three English Bulldogs.

"Samui, what did I just say?" Naruto replied, "Actually, you know what, since you all don't believe me, I wont give you a choice anymore, I'm taking you three down at the same time."

Grinning at the three Kumo chunins, Naruto crouched down slightly an got in his ready position. He had been hoping to put his skills to the test, and now that he had an opportunity, he was going to enjoy it.

He was taking them down Naruto Style.

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**AND CUT! There you have it boys and girls. Oh Lawd, that took a decent chunk of time to write this chapter. 22 pages. Not bad eh? Anyways, that's all for today. NOW I HAVE TO GO CAUSE I HAVE TO SLEEP! Its midnight, and I have a midterm in 10 hours on the dot. Which means I only get 6 hours of sleep. (I haven't really studied for it, completely so I kinda have to get up early to finish reading what's left).**

_**Good night my friends, and remember to drop me a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter.**_

**This is Freedragon, logging out.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Guess who's back?! Yes, you are right! You are bloody well right! I'm back!**

**The dragon is back, ladies and gentlemen, and lizard people of all shapes and sizes. So! First off, thanks to all the people that reviewed! Your reviews encourage me to write more. Unfortunately the last chapters have had more hits but less reviews than usual, which literally confuses me to no end. But anyways.**

**Secondly, now that it is summer, I'll try to update frequently again!**

**Now, how about we get down to the story, eh? We all know that's what you really want! (An if it isn't well... Oh well. )  
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Chapter 13: Ass-whooping, anyone? 

"Just come at me." Naruto repeated as he faced the three Kumo Ninja, before adding in a sing-song voice, "You better be serious from the start or you'll regret it."

"You smug little shit..." A certain red head growled as she pulled out her sword, "you think you are all that, but without your little monster, I bet you can't do shit."

"Kamui," Said her male team mate, "Maybe you shouldn't-"

"And you shut up too Omoi!" The red headed girl snapped at her own team mate, "Now lets do this."

Mean time, Naruto was actually analyzing the terrain around him, which would have been a surprise to anyone who knew him as a child but had not seen him fight in the last three years.

-They got the advantage in numbers, and they know this terrain well.- Naruto thought to himself, -Plus we are fairly high up, so there is less oxygen... Alright, first things first, split 'em up!-

"Everyone ready?" 2D said loudly, cutting through the bickering of the Kumo chunnin.

Both sides responded with a "Hai!"

"Well then," 2D said, "begin!"

2D jumped back, landing beside Yugito, who was sitting on a large boulder some distance away.

As soon as 2D gave the go-ahead to the four younger ninja, the action started. The first to move was Naruto, who began by throwing a smoke bomb on the ground right in front of him, creating a smoke screen. As hotheaded as Kamui was, even she didn't rush into the smoke. Instead, she and her team members started to slowly circle the the cloud of smoke that Naruto had created. The Konoha ninja obviously was plotting something.

However, they had barely taken more than a few steps when a half a dozen shuriken where thrown at them.

-Distraction.- Omoi thought with disinterest as he blocked one of the shuriken aimed at him, and simply side-stepped one that wasn't aimed perfectly at him. His team mates did the same, blocking one and dodging the other, which much to their surprise turned out to be a bad idea. The one of the shuriken that they had sidestepped, the one they thought wasn't aimed well, exploded into a puff of smoke as it flew past their heads and became a Naruto that engaged them with a side kick to the temple.

The eyes of all three chunnin widened as they realized their mistake, and gritted their teeth as they either blocked or dodged the clone's attack by a hair's breadth. Kamui, who had blocked the kick with her forearm was pushed back a good three feet, the soles of her feet leaving skid marks on the ground beneath her as her ninja sandals dug into it. Growling, the red head recovered from the attack and swung her sword at the blonde ninja in front of her, forcing him to take a step back to dodge. She managed to briefly spare a glance at the cloud of smoke from where the three Narutos had leaped out. The smoke by now had dissipated, and she could see no trace of Naruto.

-So one of them, - she thought as she refocused on the fight, managing to block an uppercut from her blonde enemy, -must be the real one.-

It was a good thing Kamui refocused when she did and managed to block blocked Naruto's attack, because the heavy punch was strong enough to push her back again. He didn't give her time to catch her breath though, using a burst of speed to get under her guard and deliver a strong upper cut to her jaw which sent her stumbling backwards.

-And damn,- Kamui though as she shook her head to regain focus, -the way this one is hitting me, he must be the real one.-

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Some distance away from Kamui, a certain shorthaired blonde chunnin girl was also under attack from a Naruto, however she was trying to dodge the attacks rather than block them. Samoi, the squad leader of team B, second in command after Kira Bee, was calm and calculating as she fought with Naruto, only the slightest frown upon her face as she dealt with the blonde. Or at least that's how she looked like in the outside. Inside her own mind, she was struggling to anticipate his movements, allowing him to sometimes slip past her defences and deliver a strike at her.

Moments after they had began to engage in close combat, Naruto's fist was seemingly rushing towards her head. On reflex she brought up her sword and attempted to block it, but the fist turned into an open palm that grabbed the her hand that fisted the handle of the sword, and pushed down on it. Samui resisted on instinct, allowing Naruto to use her hand as leverage to flip over her and deliver a kick to her back, slamming the heel of his foot between her shoulder blades and sending her flaying forwards for a good ten feet before she cartwheeled and turned to face him once more.

-Maybe I underestimated him...- she thought.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Some distance away from his two female team mates, Omoi was dealing with his own Naruto problem. The blonde enemy was quite a bit more skilled than he had thought, and as such, Omoi was quickly trying to reassess the situation.

The key word here is 'quickly', because Naruto wasn't giving him much time to think at all. The blue-eyed ninja was constantly trying to engage Omoi at close range, which at first would seem stupid against a sword user, however, Naruto was trying to step extra close, limiting the range of movement of Omoi's sword.

-He is a pain...- Omoi thought as he was forced to jump back to avoid a blow to the jaw, -I need to corner him.-

Omoi was, as a matter of fact, a very strategic person. And he knew how to make use of his mind in a fight.

As quickly as he could, Omoi jumped backwards and simultaneously threw a handful of shuriken at Naruto, buying some time as he started flipping through hand signs and moulding his chakra.

"Lighting Release: Blinding Flash!"

In an instant, the shuriken seemed to become charged up either electricity before exploding in a flash of blinding white light, barely giving Naruto time to think, "Oh shit."

Omoi rushed forward, as the light died, intending to deliver a strong kick to the stomach of his enemy, and hopefully incapacitating him long enough so that Omoi could land a decisive blow.

Naruto cursed as he got blinded momentarily by the light before instinctively dodging to the side as he heard footsteps rapidly zeroing in on him. And he moved not a moment too soon, considering that Naruto managed to dodge Omoi's foot by a hairs breadth.

Naruto jumped back and threw a handful of Kunai blindly to the location where he was standing before, only two of the kunai he threw actually aiming in the correct general direction of Omoi, and both of which Omoi deflected with his sword. Naruto shook his head as his vision began to return, allowing him to see a blurry Omoi standing not too far from him.

Naruto grumbled to himself as he watched his opponent get into the ready position once more. -Ah, damn. He is a tactician. He is going to be a pain in the ass, just like Shikamaru.-

And then they both leaped forward to meet each other in combat once more.

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>Yugito pulled out a Bento box (a japanese lunch box) from a bag she carried strapped to her back, opening it as she watched the show.<p>

"Watching a show is always better if you can have something to eat." She said as she pulled out a pair of polished eating sticks before she began to eat. "Say, that Naruto kid is pretty good."

2D nodded, "And so is Team B. They are keeping up."

Yugito nodded as she chewed on a piece of sushi before swallowing, "Well, they are being trained by Kira Bee, so they have some experience with us demon containers."

Then a familiar reptilian voice spoke out, "But they are still wet behind the ears." Ventus said as he summoned himself out of 2D, appearing on the singers head with a small piff of smoke and startling Yugito slightly, "Their first mistake was underestimating the kiddo."

Yugito blinked when the lizard talked before her facial expressions brightened as if she had just realized something.

"Oh! You are a contractor too?"

2D and Ventus turned to look at her blankly.

"Ah what now?" 2D asked.

"A contractor." Yugito repeated, "you know, it's the unofficial term for a person that has a summoning contract with animals. I've never seen this type of lizard before though." She said as she leaned forwards to take a closer look at Ventus. "Thats a funky lookig lizard you have."

Ventus huffed and opened his wings slightly and closed them again repeatedly for a moment, a sign 2D had learned to interpret to mean that he was somewhat agitated. But in this case, it meant he was kind of offended.

"I'm NOT a lizard," Ventus replied as he blew a puff of smoke in her face, "thank you very much."

Yugito coughed and leaned back, rubbing her eyes with one hand as she tried to rub away the itch from the smoke. In her mind though, she could hear the Nibi laughing at her, even though Yugito did her best to flat out ignore her. "What do you mean you are not?" Yugito demanded as she stopped coughing, "you are scaly, have four legs, a tail and look like a reptile."

"Well you have hair, four limbs, thumbs, you can walk on two legs, and climb trees, but you are not a chimp, are you?" Ventus replied shortly, the comeback making Yugito open her mouth to make a comeback of her own, but after a moment, she reconsidered and just closed her mouth.

-Hey kitten,- the two tailed cat inside Yugito called out to her host, -that's not a lizard. That's a dragon.-

Yugito blinked in surprise, and mentally replied to the Nibi, -what do you mean it's a dragon? How the hell do you make a contract WITH the dragons? I didn't even know you COULD make a contract with the dragons. Hell I didn't even know there was a contract FOR dragons.- Yugito replied with some agitation.

The Nibi just snickered at her surprise for a moment, much to Yugito's irritation, before replying.  
>-Stop and think for a moment. This handsome 2D fellow is a container of...what?-<p>

-Well you told me he was the...oh.- Yugito said as she recalled, -but wait, if he is sealed in 2D, how the hell is he out? And why is he so small? Shouldn't the only way to come out be to have 2D transform INTO him?-

-Well, to answer in order,- the Nibi replied pompously, -He is able to have a physical manifestation because something to the seal and because he is not really "out". It's more like what you see is a puppet controlled by Ventus who is still sealed inside of 2D (((Author's Note (A/N): think of it this way: imagine you are in a room and you hook yourself up to a super realistic virtual reality video-game. You can can run, jump, taste things, see things, etc, but in real life you are still sitting inside a room. That's what's going on with Ventus and Kurama. They are still inside 2D and Naruto, but they can interact with the outside world thanks to their "avatar", their physical representation in the real world.))), he is small cause 2D is limiting the amount of of Chakra Ventus can leak through the seal to make his manifestation in the real world, and lastly, yes, 2D still would have to master the power of Ventus and transform for Ventus to actually come out.-

-And you don't tell me this earlier because...?- Yugito questioned her inner Cat.

-You didn't ask.- the two-tailed cat replied with glee.

-You suck.- Yugito grumbled.

-Love you too Kitten.- The Nibi replied with a sing-song tone.

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>Omoi stumbled back as a fist made contact with his jaw, courtesy of a certain blonde ninja from the leaf village, stunning him for a split of second before he regained his bearings and dodging a falling axe kick from Naruto.<p>

-Okay, we seriously underestimated this kid.- he thought to himself as he tossed a kunai at Naruto, hoping to catch his opponent off guard after the attack, only to have his kunai deflected by an other one that Naruto had thrown.

Omoi leapt back again, trying to get some distance between him and his opponent, his hands once more flashing through some hand signs. -I need to get to one of the girls. If we can get two of us to fight one of them, we can take one of them down and then focus on the other two.-

"Lightning Release: Electric Bullets!" Omoi shouted as he finished his hand signs. A moment later six spheres of lightning, each as big as an apple, shot towards Naruto, forcing him to dodge them or get electrocuted by them.

However, that distraction was all that Omoi needed to rush at him again, his sword at the ready to hack at Naruto. Omoi swung his sword at Naruto in a horizontal slash, giving Naruto barely enough time to dodge, the blade managing to slice his clothing and cut the skin of his belly ever so slightly.

Before Omoi could go in for a second slash, Naruto brought up his knee to hit the elbow of Omoi's extended arm, forcing his second slash to move upwards and miss Naruto entirely.

"Opening!" Naruto shouted with a smirk as Omoi's arms were forced upwards by his blow, leaving his ribs wide open. Without further ado, Naruto leaned forward as his knee came down again, and delivered a hard punch on the ribs of Omoi, forcing the Kumo chunnin to gasp in pain as he was literally blown back from the force of the punch. He was quite literally blown off his feet.

Still, Omoi managed to roll to dissipate the impact as he came i contact with the floor again, a good fifteen feet away from where he had been standing before.

"... Fak..." Omoi said as he leapt back to his feet. The kid could seriously pack a punch!

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>Kamui wasn't in a much better position than Omoi, and she had the bruises to prove it.<p>

-Damn kid...- she growled as Naruto sidestepped one of her slashes by ducking and going in low as he swept his foot at her own feet, forcing her to leap in order to avoid being thrown off balance.

Immediately after she kept up in the air, Kamui rotated her sword so that the tip of the blade was aiming at the ground. Using a two-handed grip, the girl used gravity itself as she fell back to the ground, aiming to impale one of Naruto's legs.

Naruto rolled to the side with a grunt as he saw the tip of the sword come at him, avoiding having his leg impaled by a hairs breadth. He flipped back into standing position and threw kunai at his red headed opponent, making her block the the sharp kunai by swinging her sword and nocking it out of the air, making it impale itself on the ground beside her

"Is that all you can do?!" The girl asked challengingly, hoping to provoke the blonde enemy.

Naruto just grinned at her as he pulled a couple of kunai and grabbed them in a reverse grip.

The silent smirked made her mind start racing, right away suspecting a trap or trick. Then she heard it. A soft hissing sound beside her. Flicking her eyes to the source f the sound, her face paled with horror as she caught sight of the kunai she had just blocked. More specifically, she had just noticed the exploding tag that was tied to the Kunai's hilt.

She jumped away from it as fast as she could, barely avoiding the bulk of explosion that followed, but her leg still managing to get bruised by some of the rock fragments from the explosion.

"You are open." Naruto's voice said from behind her, and her eyes widened as he felt a blow hit her in the back of the head as she tried to dodge. The blow wasn't strong enough to knock her out, but it definitely hurt.

"God damn it." She growled as she leapt away to avoid a second hit.

She rotated on her heel as soon as she landed, throwing half a dozen kunai at her enemy and immediately started flipping through some hand seals.

"Lightning Release: Electric Spear!"

The Kunai became infused with lightning as they flew at Naruto, making his eyes widen as he saw the kunai become the spearheads of six spear-like lightning bolts.

"Shit!"Naruto shouted as he kept back, trying to avoid the spears.

The spears struck the intended location, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris as they exploded on contact.

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

Samui wasn't used to being pushed back this much by someone in her own age group, let alone someone younger than her. This was why she was starting to respect Naruto more than many would have predicted.

-This Gaki is a lot better than I thought.- she thought to herself. However, she was forced to put that thought on hold as Naruto's leg came around for a round house kick to her solar plexus, forcing her to block with the flat of her blade to avoid taking the direct damage from the impact.

Still, while she was able to hold the blade of her sword at a distance of her body as his foot struck it, the force of the impact rattled her bones, numbing her arm somewhat.

"Ouch..." She mumbled as she leaped back to avoid a follow up kick from Naruto that was aimed at her ribs.

"Not bad!" Naruto shouted at her gleefully, obviously enjoying the fight.

"Likewise." Samui replied with a neutral voice, her stance still defensive, just in case Naruto decided to attack without warning.

-I need to end this quickly.- she thought to herself, -if we can work as a team, taking one down will be easier and faster.-

"Then lets continue!" Naruto said energetically, snapping Samui out of her thoughts just as he launched himself at her like an orange bullet.

Samui held her position until Naruto was almost with in the range of her sword and tried to stab at him, hoping to end her match and be able to help her team mates.

Unfortunately for her, Naruto was considered the number one unpredictable ninja of Konoha for a reason.

Instead of blocking, or leaping back or even jumping vertically to dodge like most people would, he threw himself to the floor, his feet launching themselves in front of him as he let his momentum drag him along the dirt towards Samui.

The girl barely had time to let her eyes widen in surprise before heels Naruto's feet struck her shin and nocked her off balance, giving Naruto just enough time to leap up and deliver a heavy punch to her ribs, knocking her down completely.

Samui did her her best to roll on the ground away from Naruto, and leapt up again into a defensive stance to ace her opponent, gritting her teeth as her body protested with pain.

-We really need to group up.-

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

"So," Yugito said as she watched the fight, "How much longer do you expect this beat down to go on?"

2D shrugged, "No idea. Bee's students are holding up pretty well though."

Yugito nodded, "Well, they do get a fair bit of training, and Bee isn't exactly overly gentle with them."

"Well that's good," 2D said as he watched the fight, "but they really shouldn't have underestimate Naruto."

"No kidding." Yugito agreed as she popped an other piece if sushi in her mouth.

The two spent a moment in comfortable silence as they watched the fight, the only sound being the constant clashing of metal and the grunts of the Kumo chunnin.

"So 2D, " Yugito began, "do you have like a girlfriend or something?"

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

As soon as the Lightning jutsu hit the ground, Kamui heard a popping sound, which put her immediately into a defensive stance once again. However, Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

Her brain immediately kicked into overdrive as she tried to locate him, expecting a sort of surprise attack.

-Where the hell is that brat?!- Kamui thought to herself with a slight sense of panic, straining her ears and eyes to locate the blonde enemy that had already bruised her up quite a bit. However after three whole seconds of not finding him, it occurred to her that maybe she had one of the 'fake' Narutos. Or maybe he was waiting to catch her off guard.

For a second she hesitated, unsure if she should move or not. Her eyes looked around once more, and unintentionally landed upon the fights of her team mates.

"We are really getting pummelled." She muttered to herself. Her team was quite obviously much more banged up than their opponent. She clenched her jaw slightly and determinately looked at her team.

-Time to take a chance!- Kamui thought to herself, deciding to take the gamble and assume that the naruto she had been fightig was a clone. She dashed towards Omoi, who was closer to her than Samui (and also looking more beat up), to help him deal with his own orange-clad opponent.

As she sped toward Omoi, she was able to see Naruto pressing Omoi back, blocking Omoi's sword with a couple of Kunais he was wielding in reverse grip. In an instant Naruto got under the guard of Omoi by ducking under a slash and stepping forward in one movement, before rising his head quickly and head-butting Omoi in the chin. He followed up instantly by dropping both of his kunai at the same time and then grabbing Omoi by his shirt before tossing him at Kamui, who had almost reached Naruto and Omoi by then.

Her eyes widened as she tried to break, slamming her heels into the ground as she half caught, half crashed into the airborne Omoi. The collision pushed her bak a good five feet, almost sending her tumbling to the ground with Omoi, but somehow she managed to hold on to her team mate and not crash land on her rear.

"Nice catch." Omoi mumbled as she helped him stand up straight once more.

"Thanks." The redhead replied briefly as she readied her stance to fight the blonde enemy again."What's the plan?"

Omoi readied himself into attacking position as he watched Naruto crack his neck and shake his limbs as if he was loosening them out, "The plan? Split his attention and take him down as soon as there is an opening." Omoi said briefly as their opponent started to move again, rushing towards them at high speeds and forcing Omoi to shut up and pay attention to him.

Naruto's first move as he rushed the two Kumo ninja was to throw multiple Kunai at them, forcing them to jump apart, separating them just at enough so that Naruto could try to engage Omoi by throwing a kick at Omoi's midsection. Omoi, on the other hand blocked the kick with his arm and winced as he felt the impact rattle his bones painfully. -That's gonna leave a mark.- he thought humourlessly as he concentrated in occupying Naruto for a few moments while Kamui sneaked up around Naruto's back, trying to attack the orange-clad ninja in his blind spot.

Once she was directly behind Naruto, she leaped at the whiskered Ninja, who barely managed to dodge her surprise attack by hairs breadth.

-Well that was too close for comfort.- Naruto thought to himself as eyed his two opponents. While he clearly had an edge over them in physical fitness, toughness, and stamina, they obviously had an advantage in numbers.

-Well... This is going to be interesting.- Naruto thought as he watched the two Kumo ninja look at each other and then back at him before changing their stances from a defensive to a offensive stance.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Samui was engaged with her Naruto in quite the dance of slashes and parries, which eventually led to the two of them pushing each other away with a simultaneous kick.

On her part, Samui started doing hand signs as soon as she ha been pushed away from Naruto, flipping through the air as she gathered her chakra.

"Water Release: Water Bullets!" She shouted, spitting several spheres of water from her mouth at high velocity.

Naruto, on the other hand, was just starting land on the ground when he heard her shout out the jutsu. He swore under his breath and dodged to the side, avoiding the bullets.

But just as he prepared for a counter attack, heavy blow landed on the back of his head.

And he popped into a cloud of smoke and disappeared.

"God damn it..." Kamui swore as she wiped the sweat off her forehead , "I thought this one would be real."

Samui blinked in surprise briefly. "You look like someone dropped a bucket of water on you."

"It's sweat." Kamui grumbled woth annoyance, "And you don't look much better either."

"I believe you." Samui replied briefly, "where is Omoi? I thought you were helping him."

"He is holding back the last blondie on his own right now." Kamui replied as she turned around and looked at Omoi and the last Naruto.

"Lets go give him a hand." Samui said as she watched Omoi get steadily pushed back. "He is ont a couple of steps shy from getting tossed around like a rag doll."

Kamui nodded and both of the girls bolted towards Omoi and Naruto.  
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The sound a flesh and bone striking against a blade rang out like a bell, and Omoi grunted as he went airborne one more time after being forced to block an a fist from Naruto with the flat of his blade.

He landed some ways away from Naruto with a gasp, the wind was partially knocked out of him. Omoi coughed as he got up again, even though his bruised body protested against his movements.

-I swear this kid is sending me flying farther and farther every time.- Omoi thought as he winced and held the side of his rib cage.

Naruto rushed at him again, side stepping a slash from Omoi and sweeping Omoi's feet from under him, sending him sprawling down on his side.

"HEY! BLONDY!" Kamui shouted out from behind Naruto, making said blonde ninja turn around to face her. His eyes widened as he saw her fist only inches away from his face, forcing him to lean back quickly and land in a handstand to avoid the punch. Without warning, Samui appeared from behind Kamui, leapin into the air and aiming a dropping axe kick at Naruto.

The blonde Konoha ninja avoided the kick by pushing off the ground and leaping back onto his feet, missing Samui's kick by an inch.

-Well this sucks.-Naruto thought to himself as he faced the three opponents. Even though the three Kumo ninja looked far more beat up, it was still three against one.

While Naruto strategized, Omoi stood up with a cough, wincing as he stood up. "About time."

"Shut up," Kamui replied, "we got here as fast as we could."

"Easy for you to say," Omoi replied, "You weren't the one getting kicked around like a soccer ball."

"Both of you, watch out!" Samui snapped at them, moving in front of her team mates to block a dozen shuriken with her sword that were aimed at them.

Naruto didn't waste any time though, flanking Samui while she was busy blocking the shirking and delivering a kick to her shoulder that sent we flying away from him.

He landed on one foot and immediately leapt upwards to avoid a kick from Kamui , and retaliated by kicking her chin as he leapt. Omoi didn't stay idle though, leaping up to engage Naruto for a fight in mid air.

A flurry of blows was exchanged between the two of them for a second before they started to fall back to the ground again, with neither being angle to land a blow on the other. Samui rushed at the location where she calculated Naruto would land, and slashed at it just as Naruto came down, slicing his thigh open with a gash that was easily an inch in depth.

And then Naruto popped in a cloud of smoke like the other two.

Samui blinked, a little stunned at the development. Omoi gawked. And Kamui...

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" The red-eased kuonichi screamed in frustration.

"Earth Decapitation Jusu!" A voice screamed, and three pairs of hands sprouted from the ground and pulled the three Kumo ninja down into the earth, leaving only their head above the ground.

Three more Naruto's jumped out of the ground and landed infront of the Kumo team, and two of them puffed out of existence. Leaving the one and only real Naruto standing in front of the seemingly decapitated heads of the three Kumo chunins.

"Wow, I didn't think you would beat all of my clones." Naruto said as he grinned from ear to ear, "Good job!"

Kamui growled for a moment before she sighed in defeat. "Fine... You win."  
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"... So then-" Yugito asked as she leaned closer to 2D.

"OH!" 2D interrupted her a little nervously, "would you look at that? They gave up. Better go help them out."

The blue haired ninja bolted towards his team mate and declared him the winner before helping the Kumo team out of their rocky enclosing.

Yugito walked towards the group with a little extra sway to her hips, and a little wider of a grin, but only helped to dig out her team mates... And gave 2D a quick glance that would have been missed by most.

In any case, thee Kumo chunins were pulled out quickly, looking considerably worse for the wear than they had before their little spar with Naruto.

"Well," 2D started, "that was entertaining."

"Entertaining my ass." Kamui muttered under her breath, something that the ears of Naruto, 2D, and Yugito all heard, but refrained from commenting on.

"It was a good!" Naruto added with a bright smile, before looking at Kumo team with a pretend serious look and wagging his finger at them accusingly, "and that will teach you not to underestimate an opponent. Especially me."

Yugito chuckled and looked at Team B. "Well, I think you all learned something. Now lets go get you all cleaned up."

"Yeah, we have to go too."2D said giving a side glance to Naruto, "I bet out team is worried."

Naruto frowned a little as he thought about it and nodded, "Yeah, Kakashi must be freaking out. See you later guys!"

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**AND BOOM BABY! There you have it, the latest G.H.V. Chapter. Sorry for the massive delay, You wouldn't believe the issues I had with this thing. Anyways, its up! Let me know what you think.**


	14. Chapter 14

**HEY HEY HEY! Guess who? Yes its me! The Dragon is back with a brand new chapter for all of you to sink your teeth into! I know you want to get to the chapter so lets keep this brief!**

**Special thanks to everyone who reviewed! Woohoo! **

**Okay, now that's out of the way, lets start!**

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**Chapter 14: Cat, Smack**

When Naruto and 2D got back to the hotel, Kakashi was waiting for them just beyond the door of their hotel room. Or they assumed he was, because as soon as they opened the door to their room (and mind you, they did this slowly and quietly), a pair of hands shot out from beyond the doorway and pulled them in quickly, before slamming the door shut right behind them. Kakashi apparently he had been twitchy since the girls had told him that 2D and Naruto ha been dragged into the office of the Raikage. However, Kakashi had decided to wait for the their return, basing his judgment on the fact that neither he nor his other squad member had been incarcerated or executed due to the two jinchuuriki so they couldn't be in _all_ that much of trouble… right?

For a moment the thought of Naruto and 2D laying limp on the rocky surface of a dark cave, their bodies soaked in their own blood crossed Kakashi's mind. _Dead_… He shuddered at the thought, batting the image away mentally with violence. No way that could occur. Not in this country. Not when the boys had at least a small escort, and they were both together. At the very least they should have been able to get away. His heart beat sped up for a minute at the idea nevertheless. Just the thought of loosing not just his _students_ but also two major powerhouses that were essential for the village, _and_ one of them was the son of his sensei! The very thought of loosing them made him go pale with worry. Then a second thought managed to sneak into his brain. What if they were dead? What would he tell everyone back at Konoha? A second shudder rocked Kakashi's frame at that second thought. The walk back to konoha would be synonymous to walking towards the gallows to receive his death sentence.

Thankfully, just as Kakashi seemed to be edging close to dashing out the hotel and searching the entire village for the boys if needed be, the door of the room had opened just a crack. As soon as Kakashi saw this, he rushed to the door in such a way that he reached it in three quick strides before throwing the door open and reaching out to grab the subjects of his worries in a hurry and pull them in the room.

If anyone had been able to see past the mask on his face, they would have said that Kakashi's face would have been the very picture of relief. This emotion of relief was further emphasized when he hugged the hell out of the boys, crushing their ribs with the embrace to the extent that they became winded.

"Dear God! Where have you two been?!" The silver haired ninja exclaimed after the rib crushing hug that took the boys by surprise and left them gasping for air. "Are you alright? Where did you go? What happened? Why where you gone? AndFortheloveofGod WHERE were you two?"

Kakish was talking very quickly, talking positively faster than Naruto or 2D had ever heard him talk before. But even as he asked these questions, Kakashi was looking them up and down, checking to see any signs of struggle or causes of concern. Dear God he was glad they were alright! He might have had to consider going missing-nin (i.e. deserting from the village) if they both had gone and kicked the bucket.

"Well-" Naruto began to reply, slightly startled by the greeting he got from his usually laidback sensei, but before he could even start to explain anything, the door open again, though tis time much more gently, revealing that it was Noodle who had opened the door wide. She smiled with relief at the sight that greeted her eyes, and immediately turn around and called out down the hall rather loudly, "Guys! They are back!"

Thinking back upon the moment, Noodle would later realize that she would have usually never shouted out like that for someone in a hotel of such hg standing normally, but, truth be told, at the moment she quite frankly didn't give a damn. She was far more concerned with the return of her teammates. If one paused to consider that said team mates had had the rest of the team wondering what the hell had been going on for a several hours without any contact, and without any prior warning to their where about, one might have to agree that her attitude was justified.

Not a second had gone by since Noodle called out the rest of the team before the remaining members of Team Ghost darted out from their rooms, much like hornets dashing out from a hive, and headed for Kakashi's room. Within a moment, all the seven members of Team Ghost had squeezed themselves into the room, which was originally designed to host only up to three people comfortably. After a minute of struggle during which everyone tried to find a place to seat, Kakashi, who had opted to lean against a wall near to the door, stared at the two recently returned members of his team.

"So? Where were you?" He asked, once more composed and relaxed as he usually was, "You better have a good explanation, I was damn near a mental break down with worry."

"Yes, what happened to you two?" Sakura asked curiously, "Do you have any idea how confused and worried we were? I mean, you two got _marched_ into the Kage's office like criminal heading for a trial."

"Well, funny you should ask." Naruto said with a bit of a nervous chuckle, his hand reaching back to scratch his head as he said this. Soon Naruto and 2D launched into the story of what had transpired that day in detail (though 2D conveniently left out the part about a certain cat trying to flirt with him), detailing the whole events as accurately as they could. By the end of their tale, Kakashi was unsure if he wanted to strangle them, scold them, congratulate them, or do a mix of these.

"I swear, you two are like a beacon for trouble." Kakashi said with a tired sigh, "But at least you delivered the message that we really wanted to deliver to the Raikage. At least he'll consider your words about the Akatsuki."

2D frowned at this, "I hope so. But I hope they do it quick. I don't think the Akatsuki are going to be sitting on their hands for much longer."

Naruto nodded at his friends' words, "I agree. These guys are not the type to sit around from what I've seen.

Murdoc grunted in agreement, "They are tenacious bastards, and the kind who don't give a damn about how the job is done, as long as it gets them what they want."

There was a general silence for a minute after that, each person lost in their own thoughts, contemplating what would they do depending on the outcome of the Raikage's judgment. However, Kakashi finally brought them all back from the depths of their own thoughts with his voice.

"Well team. We are done for today. Everyone get some dinner and go sleep. We still have to do our duties as guards tomorrow."

Everyone nodded, and went back to their rooms before doing as their team leader had asked. No point in wasting time being cramped in a small room, after all, now that they knew that everything was alright. Or at least, for now.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Mean time, the Killer Bee's team was being escorted by Yugito all the way to the nearest hospital thanks to the whoop ass they got from a certain blond Konoha ninja, all the while chattering amongst themselves. Within an hour, the entire team ad been diagnosed with a number of injuries. To be more specific, Samui was suffering from several shallow cuts and a number of bruises on her forearms and legs and some mild internal damage to her mid-section; Karui had a mild concussion and her arms looked like they had a big polka dotted pattern of bruises tattooed on them, and poor Omoi had his jaw and ribs cracked in several places each.

While they made their way back from the hospital (each with their fair share of bandages), and after Yugito had departed to do her own thing, Karui felt the need to comment on the fight yet again. "He really opened up a can of whoop ass and force-fed us its contents. I've never had my butt handed to me like that by anyone less than three years our senior."

"Well," Omoi said, "He _did_ warn us. This is what comes from not taking an unknown opponent seriously from the very start I guess…even if he was younger than us."

"Like they say," Samui spoke up, "hindsight is twenty-twenty."

Karui growled at herself, still ticked off at loosing at the loudmouth ninja. "He doesn't fight like Kira B ((A.N: For those of you who don't know, Killer Bee is an alias, Kira B (or Kirabi depending on the translator) is his real Name)) or Yugito though. I always assumed that all demon containers were sort off like a hurricane or exploding volcano. Kinda like a compact version of controlled natural disaster."

Samui nodded at her, "He was more like a fighter or martial artist than that. He cornered us and only took us out when the opportunity was perfect."

Karui grunted with some distaste. "Don't praise that brat too much. That last move was more like a big prank rather than a real finishing move. It pisses me off. Worst part of it was that he didn't even stop by the hospital. Which means he went straight home. And _that _means that all the cuts or bruises were we thought we got him good weren't even worth his time to go get them checked up. We didn't even leave a half-decent mark on him."

That left the team quite for a while, contemplating in silence their own moments in the fight. A minute later, while Omoi rolled his lollipop in mouth as he mulled things over in his mind, a thought crossed his mind. He maid a contemplating sound and then spoke again. "Think he could beat Kirabi?"

"Not a chance." Karui said flatly, "Sensei has perfect control of the eight-tailed beast, _and_ he also has at least twenty years of training and experience over boy wonder. Even Yugito still hasn't been able to fully master the two-tailed beast, which mind you should be a hell of a lot easier to master than the Kyuubi, and she is five years older than that Naruto kid. So basically, there is no way he has mastered his beast, which is already a huge disadvantage in bijuu VS bijuu fight. Even if that kid whooped our asses, if he fought with Kirabi, it would be game over as soon as it turned into a bijuu pissing contest."

Samui nodded in agreement at this, reaching up with her hand to massage her neck tenderly as she replied, "I have to agree. As strong as that kid is, I doubt very much he has mastered the fox. And sensei is an S-rank ninja. The odds aren't in Naruto-san's favor."

"True." Omoi said with a nod. "Then what about Yugito? Think that that he could beat her?"

Karui frowned as she thought about. As much as she thought Yugito was the most badass female ninja in the village, she still had yet to reach the level of Killer Bee. "Hmmm…. I don't know… It would be a match that would be more even though, that's for sure."

Samui allowed her self a small smile, "I don't know either. He was fighting pretty conservatively so I can't measure the extent of his strength for sure. Still. He is pretty cute."

Her teammates almost tripped over their own feet at this statement. Samui, one of the most reserved and stoic people in the village, had called a male _younger_ than her by two years, cute. That was about as surprising to them as having a turtle bitch-slap their faces.

Karui was the first to recover from the schock, "S-Samui! You can't be serious, he is two years younger than us! Not only that, he isn't even from the same village, let alone the same country!"

Samui returned to her stoic self, her face once more a blank slate as she shrugged at her hot-blooded teammate, "So? He still kicked our collective asses, and he managed to make it look easy while he was at it."

"B-but," Omi tried to articulate, "Samui, he is a demon container too!"

Samui shrugged once more, her clan's compound coming into view just past one house down the street. "I think whatever I want to think." She stated simply as she reached for the gate of her house, "It's not like it's a crime to find someone attractive. Bye guys."

And with that, she entered her home and left her baffled friends behind, her thoughts already switching gears and floating away to the sweet fantasy of herself relaxing of a warm bath.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

The following trio of days was not as eventful as the one prior to it was, though for that little blessing, Kakashi was very grateful. He didn't enjoy having mini-freak out moments like the one he had yesterday. One per diplomatic mission was plenty more than the amount that he liked to have. Still, the time he and the majority of his team spent as 'bodyguards' for the elder were excruciatingly boring. He couldn't even read his Icha Icha Paradise books because of the diplomatic image that they needed to maintain.

In contrast to the rest of their team, Naruto and 2D were having a blast, figuratively speaking.

The two jinchuuriki had been exploring the village with interest, jumping from one location to another, and somehow everyday they managed to be bump into either Yugito or team B. It was almost odd really. But it had to be a coincidence right? There was no way that Team B and Yugito were seeking them out right? That was just crazy talk.

Whatever the case might have been, for the next three days after Naruto had engaged in a spar with the three chunin of Team B, Naruto and 2D would have been found either being forced to help Yugito and the females of Team B (along with poor Omoi) to shop. Basically they were glorified pack mules. Pack mules that would often be asked by the girls how they looked with this dress or that hat or those shoes, and in general what said glorified pack-mules thought would look better on the girls.

This usually occupied around three hours of the day, and followed by lunch. It should be noted that the hour unofficially assigned for the acquisition and consumption of the food for lunch, was always a time during which the Kumo ninja would pepper 2D and Naruto with questions. Specifically about the music the Gorillaz produced. Like most people in the elemental nations, they were intrigued by the idea of a new music style.

Something worthy of note was that, through out the pseudo-dates, Yugito would subtly flirt with 2D (well… sometimes not so subtly, such as the time when she 'slipped' and fell on him, after which she thank him for 'catching' her and attempted to stab his face with her lips, trying to engage in the act known as kissing). Also, Naruto was faced with some probing questions from team B, and was regarded some appraising stares from the females of said team.

Oddly enough, every time they sat down to eat, 2D and Naruto could detect that the passing girls and women would start leaking a small amount of killing intent directed at the Yugito, Samui, and Karui. Though the reason for this was a mystery for them.

The highlight of those three days, however, occurred on the third day, when the Naruto and 2D were invited by Yugito, Kira B, and Team B to the local hot-springs. The place seemed to be quite the simple on the outside, but inside it had a beautiful set up. The structure of the building was made of lasting hardwood, decorated with mirrors and some stone work in just the right places. The outdoor hot springs themselves were divided down the middle by a thin fence made out of straw-colored bamboo wood, giving the hot springs an old-style feeling. It was an incredibly relaxing experience.

Until Killer Bee started talking about girls. And boy did that escalate quickly.

At the start he asked Naruto and 2D about girls they had dated before, and was quite shocked to learn that Naruto had _never_ dated anyone. He actually forgot about rapping for a moment to digest the information that had been given to him. Then he went on tease him for a while about it, before starting to suggest several girls. This then was followed by the conversation taking a turn into the appraisal of the female body, and B was very vocal of his preferences, and this, in turn, soon lead to a conversation into an unexpected direction.

It turns out that brother of the Raikage was very much in love with the "Icha Icha" series, and when found out that Naruto and 2D had been students of Jiraya… Well, he became quite animated, asking questions about the Toad-Sanin and recalling some of his favorite plots from a score of books written by said toad sage.

At some point during this conversation, Naruto and 2D had explained that the Toad Sage liked doing 'research' for his books. Right after they had explained this, Kirabi nodded with understanding before accidentally slamming his heavy fist on the bamboo fence that divided the hot springs, proclaiming that only a man of Jiraiya's level would have thought of gathering information and inspiration in such an spectacular way!

And then the fence fell down.

That was when only four males in the hot springs, 2D, Naruto, Omoi, and Kirabi, were treated to the sight of the three nude females that had accompanied them to the hot springs. Everyone was frozen for a minute, just staring at each other in shock. This moment of silence was broken when the three very angry girls proceeded to growl, and jumped forward to beat Kirabi within an inch of his life. And while Kirabi was being physically abused, the other three males sped off into the showers and change rooms, not keen on staying to watch the rapping ninja getting the snot beat out off him. If they had stayed, who knew if one of them would be next? Instead, the thanked the heavens that it wasn't them the ones getting beat up.

They enjoyed the view though. They enjoyed it very much.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

On the fourth day after Naruto and 2D had been marched into the office of the Raikage for suspected espionage, the day was more toned down than the prior ones. There was no hot springs, nor was there an extended shopping session with anyone. Instead, 2D and Naruto had sat down to talk with each other, discussing strategies that they could develop for fighting. They had been playing around for the last three days, but they couldn't go on slacking around completely. The weight of the knowledge that at sometime in the near future they had to deal with the Akatsuki was pressing on them heavily.

For hours they talked and painted out ideas with words to one another, with some breaks in between to eat, and this they going on from the morning until the afternoon. By the end of the day, they had gathered a handful of ideas worth experimenting with. All in all, it had been a lazy day. A really uneventful one really, which was quite the rarity for them.

But this made them a little…. Edgy. It wasn't normal at all. Not for them at least. The day had been quite literally as uneventful as you could get. So much so that when Murdoc had asked them during dinner what mischief they had been up to, even he had frowned.

"I don't know guys," Russle commented, "You best enjoy it for now. 'Cause we all know that soon this peaceful days might be put on hold, and there aint anything we can do about it for now."

"Lards is right," Murdoc said as he pointed his fork at everyone, wagging it like an accusing finger, "We all know that this is the calm before the shit-storm of the century."

They all knew he was right; none of them so much as questioned that. Unless the Akatsuki suddenly decided to go all hippy and peace-loving, and decided to start singing Kumbaya and wishing everyone to go home with peace in their hearts. Which was about as likely as a fish tap-dancing to "All the single Ladies" with an octopus.

In short, it wasn't happening.

And they were right. Soon a big pile of defecated waste was about to hit a very large ceiling fan that was spinning at very high speeds.

**0-0-0-0**

Kumo was a nation that was highly militarized amongst the elemental nations, with much more strict regulation with respect to security than Konoha had. As a matter of fact, Kumo was the only one of the five elemental nations that still had a curfew hour. Anyone out at a time past eleven at night was subject to interrogation and incarceration. In general, this law wasn't enforced too rigidly considering the times of peace, and thus it was possible to find the stray and lone person returning home at midnight, when most everyone else had already arrived at home and settled in for the night.

Of course, the exceptions to the rule were the patrolling ninjas out on the streets and rooftops, who would watch over the slumbering citizens.

On the night of the fourth day after the spar between Naruto and the three young members of Team B, Yugito was in patrol duty, overseeing a sector that was, as usual, quiet and devoid of people.

Or at least, that's what she thought, until her instinct started nagging at the back of her mind, gently at first, and steadily growing stronger. It was the feeling of being watched. Usually, most people would dismiss the feeling after a certain amount of time, or ignore it right away altogether if they are in a zone which they consider 'safe'. However, ninjas don't tend to do that, and considering their line of work, they got a good reason not to.

For this reason Yugito stopped walking and strained her ears for a moment, listening attentively for any sign of an enemy. For a few dead seconds, the sound was non-existent, save for her own heartbeat, but the feeling persisted, telling her she was being watched. She frowned, quite sure of her instincts and looked around.

"Alright you," She said loudly and clearly, her voice carrying a note of annoyance, "I'm tired enough as it is without having to play the guessing game here. If you want something, come on out and lets get this over with. "

She waited in silence for a second or two, quite confident that she had either scared off whoever it was that was looking at her, or, failing that, she would have the ability to deal with the annoyance swiftly.

Following the brief seconds of silence, the sound steps could be clearly heard, two people by the sound of it. Within seconds, two people stepped out from behind a house into her field of view, each of them wearing a straw hat that obscured their faces, and both men wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them.

All at once calling them out like that didn't seem like the greatest idea she had ever had.

One of the figures, the taller one, called out to her. "Yugito Nii, correct?"

She felt a slight chill run down her back briefly, recalling what Naruto had told her not long ago when she had asked about the Akatsuki's appearance. _Long black cloaks with red clouds. _

"Well then," Yugito said with a nervous smirk, her hands curling slightly with anticipation, "What if I said yes?"

**0-0-0-0**

Running was something that Ninja's excelled at when compared to normal people. It was practically part of the job definition. If you are too slow, you die. Period. It doesn't matter how strong you can punch, or how smart you are, nor how pretty you are, if in the middle of a mission some one surprises you and kills you before you can react. Likewise, if you are trying to scape, or if you are trying to get someone to safety, or if you have to deliver anything to anyone, speed was crucial to achieve the task. Speed was one of the basic pillars of a shinoby's strength.

And speed was something at which Yugito excelled even when compared to other Jonnins. Which was a good thing because currently she was running like her life depended on it. Though in this case, "running like her life depended on it" wasn't a figure of speech. It was quite literal.

Yugito's first move after the Akatsuki had revealed themselves was to _run_. She knew she couldn't fight them in the middle of one of the most populated sectors in the village. The death count amongst civilians would have been devastating. Hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths would have come to be if she fought two S-rank nuke-nin in the place were they had come to face her. Even if she decided to just defending her self until help arrived, she would be at a massive disadvantage, for she would have to think of the civilians too while fighting them, and even if she succeeded holding them off until someone arrived, the death count would still be much too high. Besides, she had no doubt that they would have no qualms in using civilians as a bargaining chip to get what they wanted.

So she ran. She ran around the corner of a house, into an alley, jumped into the first sewer line she came across, blasting her way in with a quick fire jutsu, hoping that the noise would at least attract some attention while she tried to get away. Perhaps someone would complain and they would send ninja to check out what all the fuzz was about.

But she couldn't rely on that. For all she knew, no help my come at all until they discovered her missing in the morning.

"Shit shit shit shit shit…" She muttered to herself while she ran. She hadn't expected the Akatsuki to try to confront her in her own hometown, and certainly not in such a populated residential area. Hence, she had been forced her to move underground, where she was hidden from view, luring them away from the civilians as they follow her. She knew this was dangerous. But she didn't exactly have any glamorous opportunity to choose an alternative path of action because as far she could analyze, there _wasn't_ any other choice. She barely had had time to come up with this idea as it was.

She heard a high-pitched, low volume sound that she recognized all too well, the sound of air being sliced by metal, and threw herself to the side, and thanks to this she managed to avoid a cluster of kunais that had been thrown at her prior position. She tucked and rolled after her doge and stood up in a fluid motion, continuing to run, though loosing some precious distance between herself and the enemy. She ventured a brief glance behind her, observing the relentless opponents chase her without pause, slowly getting closer.

She turned abruptly down a wider pipe that connect to her present one, running down the length of it as she tried to go in the general direction that would lead to the Raikage's tower, where she hoped she could still find the Raikage or some other high-level Jonnins to help her deal with these men. However, the Akatsuki member kept preventing her from doing just that, throwing kunnais at her, sometimes with explosive notes even. They clearly wanted to avoid drawing attention to themselves, and so they all ended up going deeper into the mountain, down sewer-lines carved out of stone.

She had started to breath heavily when she finally entered a large elongated chamber were a number of sewers connected. Yugito, hell bent on continuing her scape, was forced to throw herself aside as a large object was thrown in her direction from behind her, forcing her into a 'move or die' situation. Whatever the object was, she heard it slam against the ground and imbed itself there with the unmistakable sound of rock being grinded against steel. She looked back once she jumped back to her feet, and noticed that the object was some sort of crazy, three balded scythe with its handle attached to a cable.

"Fuck, finally stopped the bitch." An annoyed male voice sounded from the Akatsuki that pulled the scythe back towards himself. He pulled off his hat, tossing it aside to reveal his silver hair, which had been slicked back almost perfectly. "You dodged the scythe. Impressive. But I'm the slowest one of our group." He said with a smirk.

"Hidan, be more grateful." The other man said, "We are hidden from general view here. It will be much harder for her to get helped. And in this confined space she won't be able to move around well in her bijuu form even if she can use it."

Hidan grumbled at this, "Fuck, how is that a good thing? I can't kill her, so I was looking forward to massacring a few retards that would try to help her. Now I can't fucking enjoy myself properly."

"Put a sock in it Hidan." The other man replied, whose eyes never left Yugito, "We got work to do."

"Fine. Fine. Fuck it all." Hidan replied, "Just give me a second, Kakuzo. I need to offer prayers of forgiveness."

Kakuzo growled at his partner as he tried to edge around Yugito slowly, assessing the situation in his mind. "Take this seriously, boy. She is a demon container. She could kill you."

"Bull shit." Hidan replied as he spun the scythe for a second in his hand before settling down in a stance, which was presumably a battle stance, though to Yugito it seemed sloppy for an alleged S-rank ninj. "I can't be killed, not even by her."

"You cocky brat," Kakuzo replied, "Shut up and-"

"Shut it for a second will you?" Hiddan replied, "I told you I have to do it. Le me start with my prayer to Jashin-sama. I don't like it either, but the dogma of my faith is pretty strict about this stuff."

"You and your retarded praying thing again." Kakuzo said as he rolled his eyes. Oddly enough, though Kakuzo seemed to be focused on Hidan when he talked, Yugito sensed his attention on her. Still, she slowly reached down and grabbed a couple of Kunai, trying to keep them hidden from view.

"Hey!" Hian barked back at him, "This is part of my religion, asshole."

Yugito licked her lips briefly, and tried to smirk more confidently again, attempting to keep the fake mask of confidence on her face at all times. If she showed weakness they would work that edge, and that could make all the difference between her walking out here alive and free, or half dead and condemned to a torturous death.

"Damn, you two really argue more than a married couple." She stated, trying to sound confident. "You don't really think I'm a threat, do you? Then how about…. THIS!"

Without warning she threw out the kunai she had been hiding, five in total, hitting the entrances of all the sewer lines that connected to the room where she and the two hostile ninjas were presently in. The Akatsuki, startled, jumped aside, expecting her target to be them, but all too late they realized their error. Explosive tags had been attached to each of the kunai, which detonated in simultaneously. The shockwave was disorienting for all three of them, since the vibrations bounced around the enclosed area, half deafening the Akatsuki duo that had been closer to the explosions.

Following the explosion, the entrance to the tunnels of the sewers collapsed. Rock grinded over rock as the entrances to the room caved in, locking everyone inside the room.

"What now, boys?" Yugito asked with a genuine smirk, "Now you can't get away."

"You bitch!" Hidan screamed at her, "My ears are ringing!"

Kakuzo shook his head in an attempted to clear some of the ringing from his ears and looked at her. "You seem to be misunderstanding, girl. That's just a temporary set back. Also, now you are stuck here with us."

"It's a bet then." Yugito said evenly, "Here, we are deep enough inside the mountain that no one else should get hurt. But once they realize I haven't reported, they'll look for me. I don't know if I can kill you, but I bet that I can keep you busy until someone from my home village can find us and get help."

Kakuzo chuckled, amused at her words. "Ah, I see. Playing the hero eh? Thinking about everyone else instead of yourself? Cheeky brat. Soon you'll realize how far over your head you are. Because in war, you can't afford to think of anyone but yourself."

Yugito narrowed her eyes slightly at Kakuzo, and replied with ferocity. "I swear on my name that I _will_ teach you a lesson you wont forget."

"Oh geeze." Hidan said with irritation, "Teach us a lesson huh? You know, when someone shouts something like that at me with so much determination, it just plain irritates me. And when I get irritated I het all hot-headed. And when I get hot-headed—"

"Enough, Hidan." Kakuzo said, interrupting his partner in mid sentence. "We have work to do, we aren't here to chat."

"Yeah, yeah." Hidan said dismissively before continuing. "Anyways, when I get like that all I want to do is destroy everything."

"Hidan, I said enough." Kakuzo repeated, "This blabber is useless."

"You know I hate this assignments." Hidan replied, "They go against my believes. Carnage is the key concept to my religion. But since we can't kill her, how about we negotiate. Hey girl!"

"What?" Yugito asked with a growl.

"Can you just roll over and pretend to die so we can capture you? I mean, just give up." Hiddan pitched in, "You don't have a chance anyways."

Yugito bristled at the suggestion, and immediately hunched down and started generating the dark blue chakra that belonged to the two-tailed cat demon sealed inside her. "Get real! I rather go down fighting you two than playing the frightened hostage!"

Hidan stared at her blankly for a full second as she generated her chakra. "Soooo…. That's a 'no', right?"

Kakuzo swore under his breath, "Oh! For the love of…. You really are stupid."

A full tail generated from Yugito, an without warning she rushed Hiddan and smacked him with a punch with enough strength that he was propelled off his feet and smashed against a stone wall.

"Fuck…" Hidan said as he stood up properly, a small amount of rubble and dust from the wall on his hair still.

"Let play little _mice_." Yugito said with a small smirk. The Hidan guy had been hit so easily. Perhaps this wouldn't be as bad as she had expected.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Naruto was snoring soundly, unaware of anything other than his dreams (which had started to involve more girls in the nude in recent years, but that's a bit off topic here), until he was woken up by a rumbling of hunger from his belly. With a yawn, the blond haired ninja rolled out of the bed and stood up lazily, still a bit wobbly from his half-sleep state. He crossed the room in his half-zombified state, thinking of nothing else than finding a good snack.

In mid-step, the ground quaked under his feet briefly, and he fell face first on the floor with a half-yelp of surprise. Grumbling, he stood up, looking around with confusion for the cause of the shaking, fully awake now.

'The hell was that?' He thought to himself.

'**Not an Earthquake, that's for sure. ' **The kyuubi replied in his mind. **'This zone hasn't been active for centuries. All the tectonic faults should be dead.'**

'Then a volcano? Maybe someone really fat?' Naruto asked in his mind questioningly.

'**No and no.'** The Kyuubi replied, **'This floor is made of stone, no one is that heavy. And there isn't any serious volcanic activity here. These mountains have never showed any signs of it. I'm betting that the little shake we just felt was an explosion from underground.'**

'An explosion? Who would be blowing things up? Specially underground?'

The Kurama sighed and tried to hint at it again. **'No one in their right mine blows things up directly under a village purposely. And how would any normal person find that amount of explosives?'**

'So… its probably a fight? But who fights underground?'

'**Oh for fuck sakes.' **The demonic fox said with irritation, **'Someone who doesn't want to be seen fighting you shaved monkey! Use your head.'**

'Well I'm sooooorry.' Naruto grumbled in his mind.

'**My ass you are.' ** The fox snorted, **'Now get dressed. We probably should check out the source.'**

'Fine… Fine.' Naruto replied, quickly dressing. The one thing Naruto didn't notice, however, was that just as he was about to leave through the window, 2D woke up and caught sight of him. The blue-haired man chewed his lip for a second, wondering if he should go after him or wake up the others. In the spur of the moment, he decided to follow Naruto and bring him back himself. No need to get Naruto in trouble with everyone.

'Where do you think he is going at two in the morning?' 2D asked Ventus in his mind, already standing up and grabbing the pants he had been wearing the day before.

'**Hmmm….' **The lizard said in thought, **'I wasn't really focusing, but we better follow them. God knows that kid is a magnet for trouble.'**

2D nodded as he buckled on the pants and followed Naruto out the window, not even trying to throw on a shirt. Naruto already had a minute of time over him, and that was more than he could afford to give Naruto when the blond kid was on a hurry.

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

Yugito was now in her full-blown Bijuu mode, taking the corporal shape of the cat beast she hosted inside of her own body. However, the confined space had limited the use of her powers in this shape. The fight had been difficult; difficult to the point a part of a wall had been blow away, opening a passage to a different sewer system. A good chunk of the roof of the chamber itself had collapsed, filing part of the chamber with broken rocks and boulders.

The fight was getting really heated, her opponents making use of the restricted space in which she could move to attack her and chip away at her defenses. Inside her own mind, Yugito growled and struggled to retain the released shape of the Nibi as she approached the limit of her control. She didn't have the ability to handle the Nibi's true shape for extended periods of time, at least not yet. But at the same time, she couldn't afford to loose the strength of the full form of the Nibi at this point, for she was sure that the other two ninjas would destroy her without it.

She was giving her enemies wounds, she was giving them a run for their money. If only she could keep it up…. But regardless of her wishes, she could feel the control starting to slip from her grasp.

Within minutes, the form of the Nibi dispelled all at once, dissipating and leaving behind a panting cut-up Yugito as she struggled for a moment to keep standing upright, a little woozy from loosing the power of the Nibi all the sudden. Hidan, now using his ability granted by that Jashin-sama demon that he called his god, looked like white voodoo skeleton had been painted over his transformed black ivory skin.

Hidan was still pulling out his scythe from his leg, smirking psychotically at Yugito, who winced as blood dripped from the same spot on her leg that Hiddan had stabbed himself on his own leg. "Ha! Not bad bitch, you are handling this better than I thought!"

'This is getting ugly.' Yugito thought to herself, praying that she could continue for a while longer. At least until someone got here. 'This is ridiculous though. I've been fighting them for at least an hour and I haven't been able to kill even one!'

To be fair, Hidan and Kakuzo were not exactly unscratched. The girl was quite a handful. For a moment they really had been caught like rats. Their data had not said that the she could transform into a bijuu. Not to mention this bijuu was considered the spirit of living vengeance, which made it all the more difficult to deal with. But now that the bijuu form was gone, the tables were tipping in their favour.

She was wounded in many places, mostly thanks to the Hidan fellow, who had injured her by using that weird technique ritual thing. She had set the bastard on fire at least three times, she had stomped on him, and she had even sliced his abdomen (which had been sewn shut by some weird technique from his partner), but still he wouldn't die. Instead, once he got a sample of her blood and consumed it, he had injured himself to injure her.

She had figured out only too late how the technique from the silver haired ninja worked, and now she felt herself drained. She had scared them; sliced Hidan's arm open to the bone, and hacked Kakuzo's arm clean off twice. But every time she did this to Kakuzo , he reattached his arm with some weird living threads like a sentient ragdoll, and Hidan didn't seem to mind his arm being sliced open.

These guys were like the boogiemen of the Ninja world. They couldn't seem to stay injured long enough to die. And that was one of the most terrifying things to Yugito about them. No matter how weak you are, if you can't die, you are strong.

"Damn…" Yugito said as she shook her head and made herself stand at the ready again, "Who knew that there were monsters like you guys?"

Kakuzo eyed her wearily and replied, "That's quite the interesting remark coming from a demon container."

Yugito snorted, "Takes one to know one." And she threw herself at them once more.

**0-0-0-0-0**

The sewers of Kumo were significantly different that those in most other locations, mainly due to the elevation and construction of it. From the looks of it, the sewers were quite wide, and interconnected in a wide maze that sloped down hill in a somewhat winding form, weaving around the insides of the mountains. It was almost like it was designed as a scape route for citizens. Which it probably was, once upon a time. Now it was merely a convenient replacement for a sewer system.

"Man, this place goes on for ever!" Naruto said in a whispered voice, "You can only tell for sure if you are going up or down thanks to the slope."

'**This place is a maze kiddo.' **The Kyuubi said inside his head, **'But we are getting closer, you can feel the vibrations getting stronger.'**

Naruto nodded. What the Kurama said was indeed true. He could feel the quaking through his feet, the hard rock conducting the vibrations quite well. As he ran, Naruto pondered for a minute what he would do if he ran into a high-ranked enemy, someone like the Akatsuki even. It wasn't impossible. In fact, Kumo had two jinchuuriki, so perhaps it would even be expected for them to come here first to gather one. But would they dare to attack a grown demon container in their own village? If that was the case, then even with all his training, taking on two at the same time would be dangerous, very much so in fact.

'What should we do if it's an other two Akatsuki members?' Naruto asked Kurama mentally; 'I don't know if I can take on two at the same time, specially without full control over you power.'

'**Hmmmm….'** The kyuubi said thoughtfully, **'You would have to distract them, or block them off in such a way that you could get away in this sewer system.'**

Naruto nodded as he kept running as quietly and quickly as he could through the sewer system, trying to angle towards the source of the vibrations, 'I guess there are several things we could do. A few dozen shadow clones could come in handy.'

'**Very true brat. Now focus on what's around you. I can feel three chakra sources not too far from here, straight ahead.'**

'Roger that.'

Naruto picked up the pace, his feet carrying him quietly through the dimly illuminated sewer system as he strained to hear of smell anything out of the ordinary. Surprisingly, his ears picked up the sound of explosions, along with war cries and the sound of steel clashing against metal and stone, not too far from his location.

Moments later Naruto ran down a tunnel, following the sounds and taking a left turn at another intersection. Ahead of him he found what seemed to be a hole in the wall of the sewer line up ahead, rubble scattered around it as if a wrecking ball had made it. An slightly stronger light was emanating from this rough aperture, and it occasionally radiated a burst of bright light, and the timing of said burst of light were consistent with shouts as someone called out fire jutsus and spammed them at an unseen enemy. Oddly enough, he recognized the female voice.

Frowning, Naruto slowed down his pace to a walk when he was close to the hole, doing his best to suppress his chakra signature. He sneaked up and glanced through the hole of the collapsed chunk of wall as stealthily as he could.

His eyes widened when he saw the fight going on before him. Yugito was fighting two Akatsuki with viciousness, like a cornered alley cat. But the fight wasn't going in her favor. She was quite beat up, cut and bruised everywhere, panting with exertion as she dodged the strangers with difficulty for a second before one of the men stabbed her hands with Kunai to the wall, her arms wide one, looking like she had been crucified.

The man with silver hair, with face painting like a skull growled, obviously tired to some extent as he glared at the immobilized ninja girl. "Damn woman, giving us so much trouble."

'**Hold it brat, don't move yet.'** Kurama told Naruto sternly in his mind, sensing the boy starting to move, **'Wait a moment until they are distracted enough. They think they have won. The moment they turn they let down their guard enough, then nail them.'**

Growling inwardly, Naruto nodded and forced himself to stay still, observing from the shadows, waiting.

Hidan laughed now, and rubbed his neck as he rolled it, making it crack in a away that was sure to be unhealthy to most people. "You crazy bitch! You are pretty good, too bad though. Your loss."

"Don't act so smug."Kakuzo said, "She killed you at least three times."

"Fuck off asshole." Hidan said as he flipped him off, "We still won. And you, Kakuzo, should have used your masks to help!"

"Not a chance Hidan." Kakuzo replied flatly, "With her raging about in her full form in such a small space, she would have surely destroyed at least three. It was much better watch her get frustrated with you and kill you over and over while I chipped away at her strength."

"You fucker." Hidan grumbled, as he turned his back on him to walk towards Ygito, showing his back unknowingly to Naruto too. "Fuck it. Lets cut off her hands and feet so this damn bitch doesn't try anything else. I'm fucking sick and tired of chasing her around."

"Do what you want," Kakuzo replied, "Just don't kill her."

Hidan raised his arms while he held his wicked looking scythe, obviously intent in following through with his prior statement. Smirking, he looked at her and said, "Game over… Bitch."

The moment Hidan said this, three kunai thwacked against his back, sinking themselves in the bones of his ribs painfully deeply. Hidan barely had time to gasp in pain and confusion before the ninja wire that was tied to the base of the kunais became taut as a force tugged on them just an instant before they were set on fire. The fire jutsu ran along the length of the ninja wire in an instant, and engulfed Hidan in raging flames, causing the silver haired nija to screech in pain and drop his scythe as he threw himself into the sewer's water.

Even as Hidan had began to drop his scythe, a blur of movement threw itself at Kakuzo, who snapped his head around just in time to see a gold-haired youth rush at him with a kunai drawn. Naruto sliced at him with his kunai, but the blade was blocked by the larger man's hand. He held the kunai in place as he looked down at the younger ninja with his odd eyes, "Well if it isn't the container of the Kyuubi. What a pleasant surprise."

Naruto let go of the Kunai, and leaped backwards, drawing a second kunai with his hand. Kakuzo chuckled and looked at the boy. "Giving up your weapon is a big no-no boy. Didn't they ever teach you that?"

Naruto growled, confused by how the man had managed to stop a sharp kunai with his bare hand. He glanced at the hand of his enemy, noticing its color was dark compared to the skin on his wrist. That had to be some sort of jutsu. Still, Naruto smirked at him. "I have a name you know? I'm Naruto Uzumaki! And by the way," Naruto pointed his free hand at Kakuzo, making his hand into the shape of a pretend pistol and moved it as if he had fired it, "Boom."

Kakuzo's eyes barely twitched as a fireball engulfed him as the kunai blew up, and Naruto could have sworn that he heard the man chuckle just as the explosion took place. Frowning, the young blonde ninja, shuffled his feet sideways, trying to get in between Yugito and Kakuzo. Something was telling Nartuo that Kakuzo wouldn't die that easily. There was no way that taking out an Akatsuki member would be that easy.

The fire died down as quickly as it started, leaving behind a cloud of smoke behind. Naruto growled slightly as he heard a chuckle come from the smoke as it cleared away. A moment later, when the smoke dissipated completely, one could see kakuzo, standing in the same spot where he had bee when Nartuo had attacked him, looking no worse for wear, save his Akatsuki cloak which had been scorched in a few places.

Naruto eyed the man wearily, noticing that all of Kakuzo's skin (as far as he could see) had become dark, just like his hand had before. "That's an interesting jutsu you have there."

Kakuzo nodded, looking at the boy with out blinking. "Its called Earth Realease: Earth spear Technique. Its quite useful really. A puny explosive tag wont do much against it."

Naruto chuckle nervously and rolled his neck. "How fun."

Kakuzo took a breath, and got in his attack stance, "Give up boy, you know you can't win. Specially if you are distracted by protecting that girl."

"I wont know that unless I try." Naruto replied, gritting his teeth in anticipation. He knew Kakuzo had a point, at least with regards to having a disadvantage. It was going to be a hard enough fight without having to worry about Yugito. But with Yugito pinned to the wall like that, he would have to stay in between her and Kakuzo, which would limit his movements.

Kakuzo growled and launched himself at Naruto, swinging with his left hand (which had turned a dark grey color once more) at the boy. Naruto dodged the punch swinging his own fist upwards towards the jaw of his aggressor. Just before his fist made contact with the target, the skin of Kakuzo's neck and jaw became dark once more, signifying the hardening of the body. Naruto's fist made contact, but it made no difference to Kakuzo, who simply took the blow without so much as flinching before bringing his knee upwards, and nailing Naruto on his ribcage, making the young ninja skid backwards as he was blown away by the hit.

"Ouch." Naruto grumbled, leaping back into the action by forming four shadow clones and making them rush the enemy. Kakuzo dispelled two of them almost instantly, but the third shadow clone managed to slip by his defenses and slammed a spinning kick at Kakuzo's head, barely making him flinch, before a thick tentacle-like black threads erupted from Kakuzo's arm and stabbed the clone through the ribs, causing it to dispel with a puff of smoke.

"The hell?" Naruto blurted out, looking with surprise at the living thread that was slipping back into Kakuzo's arm. "The hell was that?"

"That," Kakuzo replied smugly, "is my Earth Grudge Fear. Give it up kid, you can't win."

"Fuck that." Naruto said resolutely, forming six more shadow clones and sending them in a charge at Kakuzo who didn't seem bothered by the increase in number of attackers.

In fact, he was quite confident he could dispatch the clones within thirty seconds flat. Until a metallic sphere nailed him on the back and exploded, surrounding him in a thick black cloud of smoke.

Naruto, startled, looked around in time to see a tall blur dash from the same hole where he himself had come from. As it turns out, the blur was 2D, who landed beside Naruto and looked at him briefly, before placing a hand on his mouth to prevent him from making noise. Naruto nodded in understanding. Stealth was what they would be using right now. No time to argue.

They dashed towards Yugito with stealth, doing their best to be as soundless as possible. An instant later they stood beside her, grim expressions upon their faces as they forced themselves to not say or think of anything. They each tore off a kunai from one of her hands, careful to pull the kunai straight out and not cause anymore damage to her hands than necessary. Once the blades had been removed from her hands, Naruto lifted her in his arms in bridal style, while 2D made six more shadow clones, sending them to help Naruto's clones attack a raging Kakuzo, who was still lost in the massive black cloud of smoke that now engulfed half of the room. The entire process between the surprise attack on Kakuzo and the removal of Yugito barely took a dozen seconds to occur, and it was all done in silence.

2D and Naruto darted away now. No words were needed, they just ran, leaping out the same hole which they had used moments ago to interfere with the Akatsuki. Just as they began to head back up the maze, Hidan burst through a wall without warning, blocking the way from which they had originally come from.

"You little shits!" Hidan roared, and charged at them with a pair of kunai in each hand, for his scythe was still in the other chamber, were Kakuzo was busy with a dozen clones.

"Oh, shit!" Naruto exclaimed with surprise, before stopping and turning around, running the opposite direction, heading further downhill while 2D summoned a dozen more shadow clones to keep Hidan busy while he followed Naruto down a maze of sewer systems.

Still, Kakuzo dispatched all twelve clones within three minutes, all be it after getting hit with several kunai which shredded his clothing, and a few wind jutsu which bruised his arms, but otherwise unharmed. Angry, he bolted out the hole in the wall, only to find Hidan fighting another eight clones. "Stop playing around and kill them idiot!"

"Fuck off you bastard!" Hidan replied as he dodged a punch to his face, "You could help me out you know?!"

"Why don't you just use your damn scythe?" Kakuzo growled out, "Those clones are one-hit kills, and are fighting in close quarters. Your scythe should have been excellent for that!"

"Well I would except that I don't have it with me, fuck-face!" Hidan screamed back at him as he got stabbed through a kidney with a kunai, "Ouch! That hurts damn it!"

Kakuzo swore under his breath. Leave it to Hidan to loose his principal weapon that easily. Without delay, Kakuzo jumped in and helped his partner dispatch the remaining clones, and within a minute, the fight was finished. The one-hit kill weakness of the shadow clone had made it easy for the two S-ranked ninja to eliminate them between the two of them.

"Now grab your scythe and let's go. They already have a head start on us." Kakuzo barked out, annoyed that his prey had gotten away. A five minute head start was much more than he would like to be giving to any ninja running away, in particular when the ninjas he was looking for were running away through an underground maze and he had to find them.

Hidan hissed under his breath, bolting into the room where he had fought the Nibi to retrieve his weapon in a hurry. It took him nearly no time at all to find it and take the scythe back into his custody before returning to Kakuzo.

"Got it?" Kakuzo asked bluntly, looking at the three bladed scythe that was now in his partner's hands. "Good. Now lets go."

Without further ado, they started to give chase to their prey, doing their bests to follow the faint and occasional echoes that their prey left behind. Kakuzo refused to loose his price when they had come so close to attaining it, and Hidan, for his part, was more concerned with slicing up the three bastards that were getting away, swearing in a manner that would a sailor shake his head as he chased them with Kkuzo by his side.

The two Akatsuki members were basically on a warpath, though perhaps for somewhat different reasons but to achieve the same end: Capture and subdue their enemy. But they would subdue them with as much pain as they could possibly dispense at their enemies without killing them.

Next time Hidan and Kakuzo met Naruto, 2D, and Yugito, there would be a fight to be remembered by anyone who was witness to it.

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**Woohoo! It's done! It's done! The latest chapter is done! ~10,000 words! (**_**IT'S OVER 9,000!) **_

_**Anyways, **_**I hope you all enjoy it, and **_**please**_**DO**** LEAVE A REVIEW! **

**That said, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Any suggestions or ideas or constructive criticism are welcome. **

**This Dragon is logging out now.**


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